SAN FRANCISCO -- They've been together for a week, hardly enough time to develop an identity, let alone a playing style. That will come, we are assured, and then the whole world will witness the strength, depth, talent and versatility of United States basketball.

Until then, however, the United States' entry in next week's World Championships is, basically, toiling away in relative anonymity when it is not reacting to questions concerning the makeup of the team. Twelve NBA players comprise the team, including Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, and two other members of the All-NBA third team: Paul Pierce and Jermaine O'Neal.

	Criticism of Team USA is driving Reggie Miller, right, to win the gold in Indy.

But the combination of few marquee names (read: no Shaq, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson) and the fact the X Games get more attention than the Worlds has this team a bit on the cranky side. It's not their fault. All they ask is this: Don't dis us until we give you reason to do so. Don't look at who isn't here. Look at who is -- and be glad that they are defending the unblemished record (53-0) of NBA players in international competition.

In other words, back off. There's still more than a week remaining until the championships start in Indianapolis. By then, you'll see a team that will be in gold-medal mode.

"The way people are talking about our team, we're going to play harder than we normally would," insists O'Neal. "Everybody thinks they have an opportunity to beat us. For some reason, people think we're not that good because we have a couple guys who aren't playing, like Shaq and those guys. If you look at the league leaders, stat-wise, in rebounds, blocks, assists, scoring, we have 'em right here. It kind of upsets the team a little bit when everyone talks about us as a jayvee team. We feel like we can play against anybody, let alone other NBA players. We just have to show the people what we're talking about. We have to go out and play well to shut up the critics."

This is the second time NBA players have competed in the Worlds, which, in many places, has almost as much cachet as the Olympics. But while the Olympics usually led to Olympic gold for the United States no matter who played, the country's history in the Worlds is much less impressive.

In 1978, the championships were held in Manila during the first two weeks of October. That meant college players couldn't go, so the U.S. had to send a team of players from Athletes in Action; it went 3-4 and finished fifth. There have been 13 World Championships; the U.S. has won only three of them. It settled for silver in 1982 in Colombia with a team of college stars (Doc Rivers, Joe Kleine, Antoine Carr) and came away with the bronze eight years later in Argentina with another team of future NBA players (Kenny Anderson, Christian Laettner, Alonzo Mourning, Bryant Stith, Billy Owens.)

Who remembers those losses compared to Munich in 1972 or Seoul in 1988? The answer: the players, the coaches and USA Basketball people. That's about it.

But now that the NBA is in the picture, the attention increases. And with it, so does the pressure. The world is catching up to the United States, and as long as the country's ultra elite stay home, there is going to be the question of when, not if, the U.S. will suffer its first international defeat with NBA players.

Not too long ago, Gregg Popovich, the Spurs' basketball boss and assistant coach on the U.S. team, was watching film of a game from the 2001 Goodwill Games. The U.S. team had NBA players; four went on to join this team for the Worlds. That team did win the gold, going 5-0, but needed to go to overtime to beat a team from Brazil in the semifinals.

"I picked up the phone and called George (Karl, the U.S. coach). I asked him if he had seen the game. I mean, Brazil had a chance to win that game," Popovich said. "These guys know what's at stake. It's not going to be a walk in the park, and they know that."

This team, however, doesn't expect the U.S. to lose its first game with NBA players in Indianapolis. (Just be glad the tournament isn't being held in Belgrade.)

	“	We consider ourselves to be the best players in the world. What better way to show it than to go out and go undefeated? By us doing that, that'll stop a lot of people looking at us and saying we're not as strong as some teams of the past. ”
		— Ben Wallace

"We consider ourselves to be the best players in the world," sniffed Wallace. "What better way to show it than to go out and go undefeated? By us doing that, that'll stop a lot of people looking at us and saying we're not as strong as some teams of the past. But as long as we win, where's the argument at? It's still the same."

Coach Karl agrees.

"If we could come together and play special basketball in six or seven of the nine games, we could regain the glory of American basketball," he said. "We're taking so many hits now. I really think this team can do that. We can still be the best and show the world we are the best."

That's all these guys ask. Judge them by what they do, not who they are. They feel they've got what it takes to keep the train going, even if the Big Diesel is nowhere to be seen. They fully expect to receive their gold medals on Sept. 8, to have lived up to the heavy expectations, and to have maintained the United States' supremacy on the world basketball stage.

"It seems like America is on the back page a little bit and has been bumped around a little bit," Karl said. "This is a way we can showcase our country. This is a way we can showcase our game. The best way to do that is to play great and win."

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.