JACKSONVILLE, FLA. ? The U.S. Olympic basketball team has only had a few days of practice, and it already has an idea what it will be.

It will be young — co-captains Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan are oldest at 29 and 28, respectively.

It will be hungry. Many stars declined. But this group came willingly and is enthusiastic; Carmelo Anthony, before he got the Olympic call, told Iverson he was worried he wouldn’t.

It will be versatile, with numerous lineups, especially because LeBron James can start at any of three positions. “I’m still in awe of some of these guys, and they don’t even know it,” Lamar Odom said. “This is a group of supreme athletes.”

It will be relatively short in height, especially apparent with Duncan, the Spurs’ standout, missing Tuesday’s practice with food poisoning. When Spurs coach and U.S. assistant Gregg Popovich told U.S. coach Larry Brown that “this is a different team without Timmy,” Brown joked, “Well, that’s how 29 other (NBA) teams feel.”

It will be something else, if playing to its strength:

It will be running.

“Run and gun, man,” Anthony said. “We’ve got probably five of the fastest players in the NBA. (Stephon) Marbury, A.I., (Shawn) Marion, LeBron, (Dwyane) Wade.”

They’re fast, and they can finish.

“We’ve got the majority of the best wing players in the league right now,” Marion said. “So we’re going to get it and go. This team is made, basically, on speed.”

That must help it overcome what it’s missing.

“We’re not really deep in terms of size, and we’re not really deep in terms of true guards,” Brown said.

Neither O’Neal, Shaquille nor Jermaine, is here, leaving Duncan and, to a lesser degree, Amare Stoudamire and Emeka Okafor, as postup threats. As Iverson said, “When you have T.D. on the team, you’ve got to just get the ball inside and just work off him.” When he’s not in the game, they’ll have to find another way.

That may be complicated by the absence of pure shooters — say, a Michael Redd or Ray Allen — in the halfcourt.

“We might not have a pure shooter, so to speak, but we have guys that can score,” power forward Carlos Boozer said.

Brown and Popovich think the offense will come, especially if the defense helps the U.S. get in transition. The defensive plan is to get up into the strong international shooters and force them to drive.

“We want to have an uptempo pace, a very aggressive attitude and a hard-nosed defensive rebounding sort of shtick,” Popovich said.

The team received some help from a legend Wednesday. Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who directed the U.S. Olympic team in 1976, was at practice chatting with current Olympic coaches Brown and Roy Williams, who worked for Smith in college. … Brown said Duncan, Richard Jefferson and Iverson, three returning members from the team that qualified the U.S. into the Olympics last year, will likely be starters.