COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is just around the corner. In the lead-up to the biggest international basketball event, we take an individual look at all 24 teams.

Country: United States
FIBA bwin Ranking Men: No. 1
Last participation in the FIBA Basketball World Cup: 2010 world champions (9 wins, 0 defeats)
Best result in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup: four-time world champions (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010)
Result in qualifying tournament for 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup: Qualified automatically by winning 2012 Olympic title

There was a telling scene in Gran Canaria several days before the start of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

USA boss Mike Krzyzewski and his assistants wore intense looks during a friendly game against Slovenia.

Even as the Americans won in a blowout, Coach K and the others remained supremely focused.

Krzyzewski has had this approach his entire career, both as a coach at Duke University and with the USA.

He knows that lapses in concentration can be costly.

In 1992, he was an assistant coach for the U.S. Dream Team that won Barcelona Olympic gold. His first tournament as head coach was the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

The 14 years in between saw the rest of the world close the gap on the American team.

The USA clinched the world title in 1994 in Toronto but in Athens four years later, labor strife kept the NBA players from representing the United States.

Yugoslavia won that title, and then beat the Americans in the Quarter-Finals of the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis en route to first place.

In 2004, Argentina knocked off the Americans in the Olympic Semi-Finals.

With Krzyzewski calling the shots for the first time in Japan in 2006, the USA fell to Greece in the Semi-Finals but beat Argentina in the Third-Place Game.

The USA haven't lost a game since, although there have been close calls.

Spain dropped a couple of thrilling Olympic Finals to the USA in Beijing and London, and at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the Americans edged Brazil 70-68.

How far will USA go this summer?

The American team has 2012 Olympians Anthony Davis and James Harden and 2010 world champions Derrick Rose, Rudy Gay and Stephen Curry.

But Krzyzewski's squad is missing Kevin Love and Kevin Durant, a couple of superstars named in the preliminary squad who later withdrew.

Paul George was set to become one of the USA's star players but he broke his leg in the preparations.

Rose, the NBA's MVP for the 2010-11 season, is back after missing most of the last two seasons with the Chicago Bulls because of knee injuries.

The United States front court appears to be the biggest question.

Davis is there, but DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond, Kenneth Faried and Mason Plumlee are making their senior team bows.

Should the Americans face Spain, how might they manage against an imposing frontline that includes the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, and Serge Ibaka?

The USA will be in Bilbao, in Group C, to play against Finland the Dominican Republic, Turkey, New Zealand and Ukraine.

They have the firepower and desire to go all the way again, but there is always long, hard road to the top of the podium.

FIBA