INDIANAPOLIS -- On one of the darkest nights in the history of American basketball, George Karl shed some light on the root of the problem.

"The money and greed of the NBA. Does that have an effect on our competitive nature? Yeah, you can write that,'' Karl said.

The U.S. team lost again late Saturday night at the World Championships, dropping an 81-75 decision to Spain in the fifth-place game. The Americans finished sixth -- the worst showing ever by a U.S. men's team at a major international competition.

Many of the American players were in the lobby of their hotel with their bags packed an hour after the loss to Spain, eager to get out of town as quickly as possible and put this monumental failure behind them.

Yugoslavia and Argentina played Sunday for the gold medal.

"I still think we're the best, the model for the world, but people are catching up. They beat us, and they beat us in our own country. We have to tip our hat to them,'' Karl said.

There will be much debate in the American basketball community in the upcoming months about how to correct the problem.

The problem, however, might have deeper roots than any quick fix can repair.

Basketball purists in the United States have been complaining for years about the glorification of the dunk and decreased emphasis on fundamentals.

A look at the U.S. team's statistics bolsters their point.

The Americans shot just 63 percent from the foul line during their nine games, a number that would have been even lower if Michael Finley's 83 percent success rate is removed from the equation.

Baron Davis shot 40 percent from the line. Jermaine O'Neal shot 42 percent. Ben Wallace shot 35 percent.

The U.S. team's opponents shot a collective 73 percent.

Among the top 15 scorers in the tournament, there was one American -- Paul Pierce. Among the top 15 in free throw shooting, the top 13 in rebounding and top 12 in field goal percentage, there were no Americans (Yao Ming of China shot an astounding 75.3 percent from the field).

The American team repeatedly gave up layups and dunks off backdoor plays. On offense, especially in late-game situations, the U.S. players often freelanced themselves into one-on-one situations resulting in missed shots.

In the loss to Spain, the Americans blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.

In the loss to Yugoslavia, they blew a 10-point lead.

In the loss to Argentina, they never even held a lead.

"I personally think European and international basketball is doing some things better than we are,'' Karl said. "There's no question in my mind that the 16-, 17-, 18-year old is getting more coaching. He's in the gym more often than our young players.''

Part of the reason for that problem is the rules that American players must follow.

The NCAA limits the amount of time that college coaches can spend tutoring their players. Those who jump to the pros after a year or two of college, or straight out of high school, are making plenty of money and staying at five-star hotels but are spending their developmental years at the end of NBA benches.

"This is a good experience (for the Americans) to establish what happens when you lose, and to analyze it, because the world is changing,'' Spanish coach Javier Imbroda said.

The United States must now put together another team next summer to participate in a qualifying tournament for the 2004 Olympics.

No decision has been made yet on where the tournament will be held, and the site could have a huge bearing on which players will agree to represent the United States.

If the tournament is held in Canada or Puerto Rico, the U.S. should not have a problem fielding a team that can clinch one of the three spots for teams from North and South America.

But if the tournament is held in South America, where it will be winter next July, or in a place such as Cuba, where the creature comforts so common to American players are nonexistent, it may be difficult for the American federation to put together a team good enough to qualify for Athens 2004.

NBA commissioner David Stern attended the gold medal game Sunday and said the U.S. team needs to prepare better for its next appearance. The U.S. team at the World Championships had just 11 practices before the tournament began.

"If we're going to ask and expect our players to participate for their country, we're going to have to make a good case to them that more preparation is required,'' Stern said. "As an American, we've got some work to do.''