For the next two weeks, basketball fans from around the world will have their eyes and ears focused on Japan.

The 2006 FIBA World Championship tips off Saturday in Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Pref.), Hiroshima, Sapporo and Sendai, as 24 nations compete for the James Naismith Trophy. Sixty games will be played in that span, including the championship final on Sept. 3 in Saitama.

Reigning champion Serbia and Montenegro, Team USA and Argentina are the top three teams, respectively, in the world rankings followed by Nos. 4-6, Lithuania, Spain and Italy.

The top four teams from each of the four groups will advance to the round of 16 in Saitama.

A lot has changed since the U.S. team, another so-called Dream Team (the first edition made its debut in 1992) had an embarrassing sixth-place finish at the 2002 tournament and a third-place showing at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

And remember this: Basketball has truly become a global sport, as evidenced by the influx of foreign players to the NBA in recent years. According to NBA figures from March, there were 82 players from 38 nations and territories in the league.

Clearly, though, the U.S. squad is on a mission to reclaim bragging rights this summer.

Jerry Colangelo, longtime NBA executive with the Phoenix Suns, and Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University's coach, took charge to revamp Team USA -- and overhaul its image as a group of millionaire underachievers.

Coach K has worked long and hard to get his players to buy into the team-first approach. In fact, he has said that he doesn't like the term "Dream Team."

"The first Dream Team was a collection of All-Stars from different ages. This is really a national team that has young guys," Krzyzewski said recently. "It's a different concept from a Dream Team. It's a developing team. But make no mistake. It is a remarkably gifted team."

Still, the question remains: Will there be enough shots for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (both of whom averaged more than 27 points a game last season) and Carmelo Anthony?

Indeed, the list of American standouts not playing is equally impressive. Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire and Jason Kidd won't play in Japan. But Clippers star Elton Brand and Rockets forward Shane Battier, two guys who fit Krzyzewski's mold (and played at Duke), and young rebounding maestro Dwight Howard of the Magic add muscle and hustle in the paint. And Hornets guard Chris Paul, the youngster of the squad at 21, was the NBA Rookie of the Year last season. He could be primed for a breakthrough performance, much like Argentine guard Manu Ginobili had at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Another notable absence is two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash of Canada. His country failed to qualify for the tourney.

But Japan, led by Croatian coach Zeljko Pavlicevic, is making its first return to worlds since 1998.

Argentina's gold-medal triumph at the 2004 Athens Olympics was a vivid reminder that European nations and Team USA aren't the world's only basketball powers.

In a recent interview in Singapore, San Antonio All-Star guard Manu Ginobili told reporters, "I don't think you're ever going to see again a U.S. team that beats everyone else by a big margin. That was 15 years ago or whenever it was. Now basketball has changed and many of us are playing with them (in the NBA) every single day so we're getting closer.

"Even though they are very good, beating everyone else by 30 points, that's part of the past."

Asia's biggest star, Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, leads China into the worlds. After being sidelined since April with a broken foot, he returned to competition last weekend in the Stankovic Continental Champions Cup in Nanking, China, against Germany. He scored 11 points and grabbed two boards in 21 minutes in China's 82-73 loss to Germany.

Dirk Nowitzki is Germany's top star and is now widely recognized as one of the top five players in the world.

France's Tony Parker and Boris Diaw are rising stars in their early 20s. They give the French a super 1-2 combination.

Spain has All-Star forward Pau Gasol, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, to lead the way.

Gasol said that his nation should ignore the hype of being one of the favorites and let its performance on the hardwood speak for itself.

"It's not how good you are before the championship, it's how well you play or how many games you win to get the furthest," Gasol told reporters. "That's the bottom line."

Lebanon, which has endured the horror of war in recent weeks, is one of the biggest underdogs.

"This adventure is difficult for all the players but we all agreed that we had to take part in the world festival of basketball," the Lebanese Federation general secretary Ghassan Fares told Agence France-Presse.

"We have to show the whole world this message that the Lebanese people won't buckle, no matter the obstacles," he added.

NOTEWORTHY: There are three Japanese referees at the World Championship. They are: Nobuyasu Aibara, 42, of Ehime; Yuji Hirahara, 34, of Tokyo; and Yosuke Miyatake, 45, of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref.