INDIANAPOLIS -- Ticket sales for the World Basketball Championship have been picking up over the past few weeks, and there are expectations for the total attendance to surpass the record set eight years ago in Toronto.

The tournament will run Aug. 29-Sept. 8 in Conseco Fieldhouse and the RCA Dome, with teams from the United States and 15 other nations starting out in four groups of round-robin play.

Bill Benner, vice president of the organizing Indiana Sports Corp., said Tuesday that ticket sales have so far totaled about 150,000 for the first world championships to be held in the United States.

''Toronto set the record in '94 of about 200,000, so this far out from the event, we're exceedingly confident we'll go well past that number,'' Benner said.

He said the pace of ticket sales also has increased.

''Never having done this before, it's hard to predict how it's going to go, but the last two weeks have been very encouraging. It's starting to get on people's radar,'' Benner said.

The U.S. team, made up of NBA players, includes Reggie Miller, Elton Brand, Andre Miller, Antonio Davis, Baron Davis, Jermaine O'Neal, Michael Finley, Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Ben Wallace, Shawn Marion and Jay Williams.

Reggie Miller, who turns 37 Saturday, is the oldest player on the team and won gold medals at the 1994 World Championships and the 1996 Olympics. The Americans also won world titles in 1954 and 1986.

Yugoslavia won the last world championship in 1998, with the Americans taking the bronze with a team made up of CBA, college and overseas players because of an NBA labor dispute.

The first game for the United States this year will be against Algeria at the RCA Dome on Aug. 29. The Americans will play Germany -- and Dirk Nowitzki -- on Aug. 30 and finish the preliminary round against China -- and Yao Ming -- on Aug. 31.

Conseco Fieldhouse is expected to be at capacity of about 18,000 for the games there; the RCA Dome will seat up to 32,500, Benner said. At Toronto, attendance for the championship game against Russia was 32,616, the largest crowd ever to see a basketball game in Canada.

Benner said he expected visitors from throughout the world.

''We're getting a sizable contingent from Turkey. This is the first time Turkey has competed in the world championship, and they're excited about it,'' he said. ''I heard a number around 4,000 or 5,000 fans are coming from Turkey.

''We think we'll draw sizable ethnic followings for China -- for instance from Chicago, where they have a strong Chinese population. Same with the Yugoslavs in northwest Indiana and the Chicago area. Obviously, the United States. Puerto Rico should be a draw. So we're pretty encouraged.''

Besides Germany, China, Algeria and the United States in Group C for round-robin play, the other groups will be made up of Canada, Spain, Yugoslavia and Angola in Group A; Puerto Rico, Turkey, Lebanon and Brazil in Group B; and New Zealand, Russia, Venezuela and Argentina in Group D.