STORRS, Conn. — Two of the most successful coaches in basketball history had admired each other only from afar, from across the amateur/professional and gender divides. They decided to do something about it.
Geno Auriemma had long been intrigued by how Gregg Popovich turned unsexy San Antonio into an enduring N.B.A. power, as Auriemma had done with a once-downtrodden women’s college program in rural Storrs.
And Popovich had kept an eye on the Connecticut dynasty, noting that Auriemma’s acerbic communication skills reminded him of his own, as did the Huskies’ “consistent demand of executing fundamentals.