Philadelphia ? In 1992, the United States finally fielded an Olympic basketball team of professional players, a juggernaut affectionately called the Dream Team, which outscored opponents by an average of 43.8 points en route to gold. Participation was a privilege.

The idea in using the NBA elite was to take the game global, and thus improve it.

Talk about outfoxing yourself.

“It’s evident to the committee that the gap in international competition has closed,” said Stu Jackson, chairman of the USA Basketball men’s senior national team, which finished a stunning sixth in the World Championships last summer, and now must qualify for the 2004 Olympics.

“The rest of the world, quite frankly, is getting better. … We feel very confident going forward that we’ve got a strategic plan. Certainly we feel extremely confident we’ve got the right man in position to help this team get back the gold medal.”

That man is Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown.

Tuesday, flanked by Jackson and USA Basketball president Tom Jernstedt, Brown ” who coached Kansas University to the 1988 NCAA title ” officially became the coach of the United States team that will be assembled in the coming months. Although he had been part of six U.S. national teams, Brown was humbled by the appointment, having been selected instead of finalists Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Jerry Sloan.

A major task now is his: Persuade the NBA’s best American players to give up precious weeks of summer vacation in 2003 and 2004 to represent their country, and reclaim the title of world’s best basketball team.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown holds a jersey during a news conference where he was named head coach of the 2004 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team. Brown, who coached Kansas University to the 1988 NCAA title, was named Olympic coach Tuesday in Philadelphia.

The game was invented here, after all.

“I don’t take this lightly,” said Brown, who played on the gold-medal U.S. team in 1964 and was an assistant on the 2000 team, which also captured gold. “I’m just proud to represent this country and show the world that we do play the right way, and that this is the greatest game in the world when we do play the right way.”

By next month, USA Basketball hopes to have five or six “core” players committed to play, and then in February add three remaining “core” players and three to four “role” players. Brown does not get to pick the players ” the 10-man committee does that ” but he will have input.

Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady and Ray Allen have orally committed, and Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant have said recently that they would like to play. Shaquille O’Neal said recently that he would play for Jackson, his Los Angeles Lakers coach, but would probably not play for anyone else.

Still, the committee will make a run at O’Neal and likely Iverson, Stu Jackson said.

“I can say this: Allen will undoubtedly receive a great amount of consideration, just given what he’s accomplished in this game and the way he plays the game,” Jackson said. “But at this time I can’t say whether or not he will in fact be asked.”

Because of the U.S. team’s flameout at the World Championships in Indianapolis, USA Basketball is revamping its approach to international competition. If a player wants to play in the Olympics, he must also play in the 10-team qualifier in August, which will be preceded by a training camp of sorts and at least one exhibition game.

If the United States qualifies for the Olympics, the team will have another training camp, likely in July 2004, and five or six exhibition games. At the Olympics, the team will stay in the Olympic Village in Athens, in part for security reasons.

Because the international game is so different from the NBA game ” a trapezoidal lane, 40-minute games and physical play, among other things ” the U.S. team will need the practice.

“It is a different game,” Brown said. “It’s almost like a different sport, to be honest with you. The shortness of the game makes it more difficult because you don’t have to be quite as good in a shorter game. (International teams) do play these rules year round. They are together longer. So it’s important we don’t take for granted, just because we might be the best athletes and the best basketball players as individuals, we’re necessarily going to be the best team.

“We’ve got to use the knowledge of what’s happened in the past.”