WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Team USA trying to forget losses in 2002

The team finished an embarrassing sixth-place a year ago.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Don't bring up the World Championships to Jermaine O'Neal. He doesn't want to hear about, think about or relive anything from last summer.
Just don't go there.
"I threw everything away from USA Basketball," said O'Neal, one of two holdovers from last year's Team USA squad. "It's one of those memories that you don't ever want to remember again, so hopefully winning the gold medal can really erase that. I know it's not going to erase that in the records, but it can erase the memory for me."
Team USA remembers, and so does the rest of the world. Three consecutive losses and an embarrassing sixth-place finish knocked the chip off America's basketball shoulder.
Didn't have best team
Sure, the United States didn't send its best players to the Worlds in Indianapolis. But that hardly mattered before. Ever since the original Dream Team high-fived and alley-ooped its way through the 1992 Olympics, national teams with NBA players were as good as gold.
Until 2002.
A squad lacking in star power -- no Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, etc. -- and chemistry watched as a 58-game winning streak fell against Argentina. A loss to Yugoslavia followed in the quarterfinals, and a string of seven international championships, including three Olympics, was snapped, too. Spain finished off the numbing trifecta, leaving Team USA sixth.
A little perspective: New Zealand placed fourth.
Consider the lesson learned. Team USA is back. Reloaded and refocused, the 12 players representing the country that invented basketball are out to repair a shattered psyche and prove their dominance once again.
Step One: the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
"They realize the competition is tough, and these guys want to make a statement, based on the conversations I had with all of them," Team USA coach Larry Brown said. "They want to prove that we do play the best basketball in the world, and we play the right way."
Tournament begins Wednesday
The 12-day tournament begins Wednesday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and features 10 teams from North, South and Central America. The top three teams earn a ticket to the 2004 Olympics. Team USA, because of its finish last summer in Indianapolis, doesn't have a guaranteed spot in Athens next summer.
After nine days of training in New York, Team USA practices one last time in San Juan on Tuesday and begins play Wednesday against Brazil. The Americans take on Puerto Rico on Sunday in an exhibition game.
The makeup of Team USA pales when compared with the original Dream Team. Although Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are long gone, the star power of this year's collection is a quantum leap from last summer.