In 1996, the NBA is looking to the USA Women's Basketball Team Olympic performance to weigh the worth of a professional women's league, while women's coaches are still fighting for equal standing at the collegiate level.
It’s 1996, more than a decade since the NCAA has taken over women’s college sports. Many of the association’s brightest basketball stars are on Team USA, hoping to take home gold at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. But this team is more than just a team. They’re an experiment to see whether it’s worth bankrolling a professional women’s league. While this is happening, women on the collegiate level are still fighting for equal standing for their programs and players. Some believe the NCAA is partly to blame for the rapid decline in women leaders and coaches in basketball.