April 08--TAMPA, Fla. -- Thirty years ago, Geno Auriemma took a coaching job in a Connecticut backwater that isn't even a place of its own but a village within a town of 25,000 inhabitants.
The women's basketball program he inherited had fit perfectly in that state of nowheresville, winning barely one-third of its games in the four seasons before Auriemma arrived.
He asked players whom no successful program had recruited to come to Storrs, where their goals would change in a step-by-step process: have a winning season, make the NCAA tournament, win an NCAA game, make the Final Four, win a title.
As each goal was realized, with peons becoming emperors, Storrs would become the place for the best women's players, all hoping to be part of a dynastic succession.
No one expressed how far the UConn women have come than Breanna Stewart, the 2012 high school player of the year, when she gave Auriemma her reasons for picking the school.
"Stewie says I want to come to Connecticut, I want to win four national championships," Auriemma recalled.
The junior from North Syracuse, N.Y., was halfway toward that unprecedented feat going into Tuesday's NCAA final against Notre Dame.
And Stewart's play was a major reason the Huskies were seeking their third straight title and 10th in the last 16 seasons.
The 6-foot-4 forward, a force inside and outside, won Most Outstanding Player of the 2013 and 2014 Final Fours, in which she averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 rebounds. She had 25 points, eight rebounds and four shot blocks in Sunday's semifinal rout of Maryland.
"She's the most difficult matchup on the court when you talk about her length and her ability to post you up or step back and take the three or kick the ball out to Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis)," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said.
Stewart and Mosqueda-Lewis both were WBCA All-America choices this year. So was UConn point guard Moriah Jefferson. Many people thought Huskies' forward Morgan Tuck also should have been on that 10-player list. All were prep All-Americas.
With that talent, critics will say, it's no wonder Auriemma was within one title of matching UCLA men's coach John Wooden's NCAA record.
"I don't think any coaches should apologize for getting the best players," Auriemma said. "I think that's part of the job description when you sign up to be a coach.
"A lot of coaches think it's noble and honorable to recruit bad players and make them better. I've been there. It sucks."
Notre Dame's roster hardly is bereft of talent, with six prep All-Americas. Yet only one, Jewell Loyd, would be assured of a place in the current Connecticut starting lineup.
"I love being the underdog," Irish coach Muffet McGraw said. "The pressure is on them."
UConn had won all nine of its previous title game appearances.
No team has handled the pressure better over the years than the young women in the basketball program that came from nowhere to make their opponents view the ultimate victory as a remote destination.
