by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

Jessica Hill/AP

Associated Press photographer Jessica Hill snapped a tremendous picture of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma grabbing the rear end of Baylor coach Kim Mulkey before Monday night’s showdown between the college powerhouses.

Thankfully, Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post noticed the exchange and asked Auriemma about it after UConn’s 76-70 loss. The coach said it was a playful moment:

“She was staring at my butt and she was commenting on it and I said, ‘Really? How about yours?’ and she went, `Yeah, look at it,’ and I went (slap), I’ll teach you a lesson. And then she started talking about how she only dated Italians her whole life and that she wanted me to set her up with some Italians and I said, `The Italians I send to see you aren’t going to date you.’ We’ve had a long and great relationship since, gosh, she was an assistant at Louisiana Tech. It goes back a long ways.

“She’s just a big pain in the butt. That’s all there is to it.”

If you had “backside caressing,” “dominatrix,” “allusion to mob hits,” “Italian stallions” and “Louisiana Tech assistant coach” in your Geno Auriemma press conference bingo game, congratulations.

If you want to get your knickers in a twist about this, save your breath, please. As long as Mulkey was on board with the squeeze (and we’ve seen nothing to suggest otherwise), there’s nothing here except a phenomenal picture, an excellent press conference response and a little game of “pin the tail on the pantsuit” between friends.

Thanks to The Dagger

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