San Jose, Calif. ? The business card reached the lap of June Collison, the mother of high-school junior Darren Collison, during a random AAU basketball game a few years ago.

June looked at the name on it – Kerry Keating, UCLA assistant basketball coach – and had an epiphany almost instantly.

At the time, Keating wasn’t allowed to contact Darren or his parents. So through Darren’s AAU coach, June had a message for Kerry.

“Ask him if he’s related to Larry Keating.”

Intertwining worlds collide at 6:05 p.m. today, when Kansas University takes on UCLA in the NCAA Tournament West regional championship at the HP Pavilion. Darren Collison now is the sophomore point guard for the Bruins. Kerry Keating still is an assistant coach in Los Angeles. Collison’s parents expect to be in attendance today.

And Larry Keating will be courtside, watching not only as the senior associate athletic director for KU but as the proud father of Kerry – one of the top assistants in college basketball.

“It’s a little aggravating for my wife,” Larry Keating said with a grin, “who’s now going to sit in the (Pittsburgh) section.”

Larry Keating insists he had almost nothing to do with Collison going to UCLA. Collison said the connection just “shows how small the world is.”

But Collison’s parents have known Larry Keating for almost 25 years, a healthy past that may have made Kerry more endearing than any other coach pursuing Darren Collison’s basketball talents.

When Larry Keating was athletic director at Division-II Adelphi University in New York, the former June Griffith and Dennis Collison were among the best track-and-field athletes in the world. June competed in the 1984 Olympics after college, and to further expose both of their talents at Adelphi, Keating opened the athletic department’s checkbook.

“It was important that we got them into competitions and spent some money that we normally wouldn’t have at that level,” Keating said.

The Collisons never forgot the commitment Keating made to their careers. Keating lost touch with them after all three left Adelphi, but that business card brought it all back.

And today’s game will bring it all together.

Darren Collison averages 12.7 points and 5.7 assists per game, emerging as a valuable asset after Jordan Farmar vacated the point-guard spot to go pro last year.

Collison was lightly recruited out of Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., partly because of his meager 160-pound frame.

But Kerry Keating liked him instantly, and it’s paying off now.

“His last two years in high school, his team was 66-5,” Kerry Keating said. “Every kid on our team has been a winner, but when your point guard has won like that? That really trickles down.”

Though Collison never had the love for track that his parents did, he does bring some of that mentality onto the basketball court. He said he’s eager to play a run-and-gun team like Kansas because, “That’s what I prefer. Playing basketball that way is real fun.”

Collison’s college career has also re-opened communication between his parents and Larry Keating. At last year’s Final Four in Indianapolis, Keating ran into the Collisons for the first time in almost 20 years.

Having his son on the Bruins’ staff, Larry and his wife have watched the Bruins play close to two dozen times this year.

That gives him a little knowledge on Darren Collison – to go along with the expertise he’s had a for decades concerning the point guard’s pedigree.

“Collison is a great guard – very underrated nationally,” Larry Keating said. “It’s just been the last month or so where he’s gotten some real recognition for how good he is.”

Larry Keating left no doubt as to where his loyalties lie.

“I work for Kansas,” he said. “There is no part of me that says I want UCLA to win. Not a bit. Not even a little bit. That said, if they won the game, I’d be happy for Kerry.”