Fhe 1996 Olympics changed everything.<br >Fwelve women stood on a podium with gold<br >dals draped on their necks and smiles on their<br >es. They had done more than inspire national<br >fie. They changed their sport forever.<br >~ixty wins and no losses would be the record of<br > 1996 Team USA， but the future of professional<br >men s basketball would be its legacy.<br >Women s basketball had been gaining in popular-<br >The college game had seen dramatic rises in<br >~ndance. The NCAA Final Four was selling out<br >mths in advance.<br > It was clear that the audience was building. B<br >building toward what?<br > U.S. women college players had no place to<br >after college. No place in the United States， that<br >The most talented players were still forced to p<br >overseas in countries such as Italy， Spain， Japan<br >Israel.<br > On those teams American stars were well p~<br >~a~-a%~4~K~k-~~~k~b~tkt~-e~ h~ foreign fans. But as f~<br >U.S. fans were concerned， they were invisible.<br > ~，s narl flf ~h.e U.S: Olymp!c team， they were<br > thing but invisible. Players like Lisa Leslie， S<br > Swoopes， Nikki McCray and Rebecca Lobo g<br > magazine covers and grabbed newspaper head<br > They showed American fans that there was life<br > college basketball. And they made those fans<br > to watch it.<br > In the months that followed the Olympics， ff<br > U.S. players learned they would at last have a<br > to play at home. Two leagues were beimz formeq<br >1 MEASURING UP: HERE S!<br ><br ><br >