When Dreams Become Just That

There is still one women’s professional basketball league, which is one more than when Kristin Clark and Adrain Williams started college.

But it’s never good news when you’re a senior in college and almost half of the jobs in your desired profession disappear.

That’s one ramification of the demise of the nine-team American Basketball League. Just like that, there are 90 fewer women’s basketball roster spots in this country. It’s the WNBA or pack your bags and grab your passport.

Clark and Williams are the top two scorers on the USC women’s basketball team. They both have aspirations of playing in the United States after they graduate next year. With the WNBA expanding to 12 teams next year, their chances were supposed to get better. Instead, the odds decreased, and now the market is flooded with top-caliber talent such as Teresa Edwards, Natalie Williams, Yolanda Griffith and Jennifer Azzi. Clark’s sister told her the bad news about the ABL at the hair salon Tuesday.

Williams found out from her father.

“He told me, ‘You better go out there and shoot, because the ABL just filed for bankruptcy,’ ” Williams said. “I was like, ‘Why did this have to happen in my year?’ ”

It had to happen to some class of players. From the outset, practically no one thought there would be enough money, television time slots and fan interest to support two women’s pro leagues.

“I knew, eventually, one of them would not be there anymore,” Clark said. “I just didn’t know it was going to be this soon.”

A little bit of hope was lost along with all the jobs. How quickly optimism turns to dust. It was only 2 1/2 years ago that women’s basketball was reaching its high point.

The Olympic team was one of the best stories in Atlanta. What a classy group of people. They knew they had to do more than win the gold medal. They knew they were campaigning for the future of the sport. And they represented all involved well.

They won the gold with an old-fashioned combination of fundamentals and teamwork that surpassed anything their male counterparts had to offer. They literally skipped around the court afterward.

Then they scattered to their separate leagues. In some ways, the movement was ending even as it began.

It would have always been ideal to have the ABL’s superior talent combined with the WNBA’s structure, marketing and calendar (in the less-competitive summer months).

Now, we’ll finally get that wish, but on the wrong terms. It would have been better if the ABL could have held out to force a merger between the two leagues.

Competition begets innovation. After all, the American Basketball Assn. brought us the three-point shot (which is a good thing) and the dunk contest (which used to be a good thing).

And there’s that sense of pride that comes from being the underdog league. It never goes away. You can hear it in the voices of former ABA players involved in the NBA. Julius Erving made sure he voted for as many ex-ABA guys as he could when he filled out his ballot for the NBA’s 50 greatest players. And it probably isn’t a coincidence that four of Larry Brown’s six professional coaching stints were with teams that came from the ABA. He always wanted that distinction of winning the first NBA championship for a former ABA franchise.

Because the ABL players are coming as individuals, not teams, they won’t carry any sense of pride into their new league. Two and a half seasons isn’t enough time to start any traditions.

The ABL won’t have a legacy. All it provided was a flash of excitement, like a shooting star.

For women who grew up after women’s pro basketball experiments failed in the early 1980s, the last couple of years provided options they couldn’t even fathom in their childhood.

“Really, all I could dream of was just getting a full-ride scholarship to a [Division I] school,” Clark said. “Maybe the Olympics. I didn’t think about pro. As I got a little older, I thought about playing overseas.

“I was just thrilled with the fact that they had two pro leagues.”

For the first time women not only had opportunity, but choice. Sadly, this country wasn’t prepared to sustain that.

If there’s any good that can come of this, it will keep girls a little more realistic. We don’t want to crush their dreams; just keep them grounded.

The reason most female basketball players were more interesting and well rounded than male basketball players was they knew they would have to rely on their brains, not their athletic talent, to succeed in the real world. The WNBA and ABL changed that, and not always for the better.

“I think women now and girls, they’re playing basketball in order to go to the pro leagues,” Williams said. “Before, we were playing because we liked to play. Now it’s more competitive--’I want to be Lisa Leslie, I want to be Sheryl Swoopes.’ ”

“I see young boys, they’ve always thought, ‘I’m going to be this person, that person.’ I think it’s going to turn into that [for girls]. I hope the women understand that it’s not going to be the same. It may be one day, but we need to get our education.”

Williams has paid attention to her books. She will leave USC with her degree in psychology.

But that won’t help her as she begins her “job search.”

First thing Wednesday morning, she went to the gym and worked on her game.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com