Nick Collison would love to represent the United States in the 2004 Olympic Games.

“Being on the Olympic team … it’d be unbelievable. It’d be fun. It’d be great,” said Collison, the Kansas University graduate/Seattle SuperSonics rookie who just completed a successful stint as a “role player” on the U.S. national basketball team that went 10-0 at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.

Collison just doesn’t know whether he’ll be invited to join the team.

“I doubt it, but you never know. … they might want to keep the team the same,” Collison said.

Seven players off the dominant U.S. qualifying team — Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Mike Bibby, Ray Allen, Jermaine O’Neal and Tim Duncan — have been guaranteed spots on the 12-man U.S. Olympic team.

Coach Larry Brown has extended offers to Karl Malone, who likely will accept, and Kobe Bryant, who will be on the team if he’s not jailed on charges in a pending legal case in Colorado.

That means the 6-foot-10 Collison, who helped KU to two Final Fours the past two seasons, will battle qualifying team members Kenyon Martin and Vince Carter, and fellow “role players” Richard Jefferson and Elton Brand — not to mention all the other players in the NBA — for the final three or four vacancies.

“Some guys who were here deserve a lot of consideration,” Brown said. “Hopefully, some guys do something this year in the NBA. Hopefully, it’s a carrot for them. It’s an incredible honor (to play for one’s country).”

Collison, who spoke with Brown after the title game, averaged 4.9 points off 15-of-20 shooting in eight games and exploded for 13 points in a 113-55 rout of the Virgin Islands.

The U.S. Olympic men's basketball squad, including Kansas University product Nick Collison, second from left, lines up for the national anthem before the start of an exhibition game against Puerto Rico in this file photo. From left, are Sacramento's Mike Bibby, Collison, Toronto's Vince Carter, Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, Orlando's Tracy McGrady, New Jersey's Jason Kidd, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and coach Larry Brown.

“He (Brown) said I did a good job. He didn’t say anything about next year,” said Collison. “At this point, I don’t expect it (to happen). I definitely understand there are other guys in the league who deserve it. (But) who knows what might happen? If you have guys who have been in the (NBA) a long time, they might complain about minutes, where I wouldn’t say anything.”

Collison, who has represented his country eight times since 1998 and earned the nickname “Mr. USA Basketball”, said this summer’s experience was much more gratifying than playing for the U.S. team that notched sixth at the world championships last year.

“First of all, we were more talented. We had more scorers this year with McGrady and Iverson, Tim Duncan. We were a little more balanced,” he said.

“We definitely wanted to go undefeated and make a little bit of a statement after last year. The gold-medal game (106-73 rout of Argentina) was great. We played our best game.”

Collison said scrimmaging with and against the NBA players for a week at U.S. training camp in New York gave him a head start heading into his rookie season.

“It will help me a lot,” Collison said. “It really helped practicing every day in New York. In Puerto Rico, we’d sit around all day and I’d play a little bit, the last five or six minutes of the games. But facing them every day in New York really helped me a lot. I won’t be as timid when I see them during the season.”

Collison currently is spending two relaxing weeks in Lawrence, getting ready for the grind of the NBA season. He’ll head to Seattle soon to find a place to live, then prepare for training camp in October.

“I’m here working out and playing a little pick-up with the guys,” Collison said of the current Jayhawks. “It’s fun. It’s a little weird, actually. People are going to class and I don’t have to go.”