The United States is installed by many international odds makers

Tag : rolled bronze
It's been three weeks since that day in New York, and Team USA isfinally back together for a four-day U.S.-based portion of trainingcamp in Sin City prior to its first exhibition game, Friday nightagainst Canada (8 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN360.com).
It would be a sin, in the minds of many Americans, for the U.S.Olympic men's basketball team to return home from Beijing on Aug.25 with anything less than the gold medal.
Expectations in the homeland during an eight-year gold-medaldrought have not been totally, truly tempered by American failuresat the past three major international tournaments: the 2006 WorldChampionship (bronze medal), the 2004 Athens Olympics (bronzemedal) and the 2002 World Championship (sixth place), which willkeep the pressure on these guys at a zenith throughout theOlympics.
The bar is set pretty high when anything other than gold isunacceptable, but that's the deal for the 2008 version of Team USA-- and the players know it.
The United States has been installed by many internationaloddsmakers as a 1-3 favorite to win in Beijing, but as anyone whohas followed the evolution of the sport over the past decaderealizes, there are no longer any sure things in internationalbasketball.
And so while gold is the quest and the expectation, it is not alock.
That's not a prediction, it's simply reality.
Spain is the defending world champion. The Spanish have size (Pauand Marc Gasol, Jorge Garbajosa), talent at both backcourtpositions (Jose Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro), role players whocan play inside and outside (Rudy Fernandez), and a teenage backuppoint guard (Ricky Rubio) who has already drawn comparisons toPistol Pete Maravich.
Argentina is the defending Olympic champion, led by the NBA'sreigning sixth man, Manu Ginobili, and is the only nation to havedefeated the United States twice (2002 Worlds, 2004 Olympics).
Russia is the standing European champion, with a tall and longfront line that includes Andrei Kirilenko and former NBA playersViktor Khryapa and Nikita Morgunov, not to mention an Americanpoint guard (J.R. Holden) and an American coach (David Blatt).
Lithuania is always tough, and Greece just rolled into the Olympicsin the last-chance qualifier tournament and was then placed withGermany (led by Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman) in the U.S. team'spreliminary-round Olympic group. (The third team to qualify,Croatia, was drawn into Group A with Argentina, Lithuania, Russia,Iran and Australia.)
"Well, it's a tough group," Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski saidfollowing the team's inaugural practice Monday. "For us, I thinkwhat's really good is we play China first, which gives us a flavorof the Olympics and what nationalism's all about, then Angola.
"But after that, through the rest of the tournament, we're going toplay teams that are more conventional, and we don't have anyinterruptions. There won't be a lull like there was in the WorldChampionship, where the pool play I don't think got you ready formedal play. Our pool play will get us ready for medal play. Themore competition we have, the better we'll be. And again, at thevery end, it's what you do in medal play.
"I've learned a lot over the last three years, and one thing is:Let's play as many good teams as possible to get us ready for medalplay."
Chris Sheridan is an ESPN.com Insider. He has covered the U.S.senior national team since the 1996 Olympics.