The talent gap had closed to the point where we could no longer expect our amateurs to waltz to victory. And the no-more-messing-around Dream Team was born.

The Dream Team wasn't just an incredible constellation of superstars. It was a team of men. The world would no longer be confronting college boys still growing into their bodies.

The sternum of an unlucky member of the Angolan team would be the locale for the Dream Team's first impression, courtesy of a Charles Barkley elbow.

Beginning in 1992 and continuing through Vince Carter's facial humiliation of France's Frederic Weis in 2000, the U.S. pros were not only way better than the internationals physically, but the world also lacked the guts to stand up to the bully.

That all changed with the Ignominy in Indianapolis. At the 2002 world championships, a U.S. roster that included Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller and Jermaine O'Neal finished sixth overall with losses to eventual gold medal finalists Yugoslavia and Argentina and a third loss to Spain in the game for fifth place.

Players who could pick apart a halfcourt trap suddenly couldn't solve a trapezoidal lane.

In two disastrous weeks the unbeatable aura of the U.S. hoop superpower had been shattered. Not only were international teams emboldened by this result, but the '04 U.S. Olympic team would seem to be haunted by it, visibly tightening in fear of repeating the disgrace.

Which, of course, they did, losing thrice in Athens, beginning with a 19-point shellacking at the hands of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico! By the time the Bad Dream Team lost in the semis to Argentina, 89-81, it hardly seemed like an upset. Turned out Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury were two too many shoot-first ball-handlers with an indifference to defense for a high-pressure international competition.

When the U.S. lost to Greece in the semis of the 2006 world championships, allowing a staggering 62.5 percent shooting in a 101-95 loss, it was clear that David Stern's plan to globalize basketball had worked all too well.

Generations of kids around the world, perhaps as bored by 0-0 soccer games as Americans, had turned to basketball. But one could argue that the principles of soccer — and European socialism for that matter — have formed the bedrock of the world's success against the U.S. in international basketball. Team over self. Five men playing as one. Constant player motion and quick ball movement.

As the U.S. has sunk into a funk of clearouts, isolation and two-man basketball, in which three or four guys stand around watching, the internationals look like they've just played four years for Bobby Knight. Pass and cut to the basket or pass and pick away, but do not pass and watch your teammate dribble drive to the basket.

A team in perpetual motion is hard to guard, and teams that are hard to guard will occasionally shoot 62.5 percent and pull off shocking upsets.

This disparity in philosophy will present problems in Beijing — as Kobe, LeBron and D-Wade all expect to have the ball and are unlikely candidates to be setting back screens for Carlos Boozer — but ultimately they will impose their talent, athleticism and competitive will on this tournament.

This latest Dream Team will erase the nightmare of '04.

But will you care?