Continuing its preparation for the World Championships, the United States basketball team has made its trek to the Far East, where it will spend the next month trying to re-establish its dominance.

In the first of five exhibition games Thursday, Team USA rolled to a 114-69 victory over Puerto Rico. That game was in Las Vegas and the last on friendly soil - and in front of familiar faces.

"It was a long trip, especially on the heels of a great game in Vegas, so we are all a little emotionally drained," Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "We're excited about regrouping and going after it here."

The players on Team USA are traveling without their families and close friends, who must make their own arrangements and will not be allowed to travel with the team until the quarterfinals of the World Championships.

"Our families aren't here, obviously, so it's just the guys and we're having fun," Battier said.

On Monday, Team USA faces China. The nations are in the same group at the World Championships and likely will use this game to take a long look at each other.

China is led by 7-5 center Yao Ming, a four-time All-Star with the Rockets who is coming off the best season of his career. He also is coming off a broken foot but said recently that he expects to play against Team USA.

Yao could present some problems for the Americans, who have just one 7-footer - Brad Miller of the Sacramento Kings - on their roster.

"We'll have to adjust, especially if Yao plays," said Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 18 points in the exhibition opener. "With him being so tall and being so good, we'll have to adjust for him."

However, Team USA used superior athleticism to blow out Puerto Rico and should have a similar advantage against China, which finished eighth at the 2004 Olympics, losing five of seven games.

The Americans should face a stiffer challenge here Tuesday when they face Brazil, which has a roster littered with players with NBA ties.

Team USA travels to Seoul to take on Lithuania on Sunday and host Korea on August 15. After those games, coach Mike Krzyzewski is expected to make two cuts to reduce the roster to 12 for the World Championships, which begin August 19.

Krzyzewski also must select a captain and revealed that Class of 2003 superstars Anthony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are among the finalists.

"Certainly the three players you mentioned will be given good consideration," he said. "But we need leadership from everybody."

At the outset of training camp in July, Krzyzewski - the first college coach put in charge of the national team since the advent of the NBA era in 1992 - said the goal was for the Americans to re-establish themselves as the dominant team in international basketball.

In 2002, the U.S. finished an embarrassing sixth at the World Championships, losing an astonishing three times despite the presence of NBA stars. It was more of the same at the 2004 Olympics, where the Americans lost three more games and settled for the bronze medal.

The fall from the top prompted wholesale changes within USA Basketball, including the appointment of managing director Jerry Colangelo and a tryout process which had not been used since the 1980s.

"The USA has not given the World Championships as much credit or influence as they should have and we are taking it very seriously," Colangelo said.

In the World Championships, Team USA is in Group D with Puerto Rico, China, Senegal, Slovenia and Olympic silver medalist Italy, which routed the Americans in an exhibition prior to the 2004 Games.

Only the winner of the 24-team World Championships and the Olympic hosts automatically qualify for the 2008 Games in Beijing. If Team USA does not win the World Championships - which it has not done since 1994 - it must qualify through the 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela.