SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A critical look at the U.S. Olympic qualifying team reveals the following statistics: Jason Kidd is averaging just 2.8 points, the team is shooting only 64 percent from the foul line and commits 16.5 turnovers per game.

Why the harsh analysis?

Because the four teams the United States will face in the second round of the Tournament of the Americas are doing exactly the same thing, picking out every tiny flaw.

The level of competition will rise in the upcoming week, along with the level of anticipation for the first game between the Americans and Argentina since last summer's World Championships when the U.S. team lost 87-80.

Argentina, which defeated Puerto Rico on Sunday night, also beat Uruguay and Canada after losing its opener to Mexico.

"In the three games we've watched them play, they've gone from a 2 to a 5 to an 8 on a 10-scale,'' U.S. assistant coach Gregg Popovich said. "They've got a great coach, they've been in these situations before and they know how to get ready for the final round. By the time that comes, they're going to be as good or better as they were last summer.''

Coach Larry Brown gave the U.S. team the day off Sunday, and the American federation waited to learn what the schedule will be for the second round.

After midnight, a schedule was released calling for the U.S. to play Canada on Monday, followed by games against Argentina, Mexico and Puerto Rico, prompting USA Basketball director Jim Tooley to meet with FIBA-Americas director Gennaro Marchand for more than an hour.

"I don't know if it was an official protest or not,'' said Elliot Castro, a spokesman for the organizing committee. "They told me that the schedule stays the same.''

Tooley would not comment on what was discussed in the meeting.

The most important games will be next weekend, with three berths in the Athens Olympics at stake. Two teams will wrap up berths in the semifinals Saturday, and a third will qualify in the bronze medal game Sunday.

The gold medal game Sunday night could bring a second meeting of Argentina and the United States.

Popovich, who coaches Argentina's Manu Ginobili in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs, has been warning the newcomers to the U.S. team that they should expect a nail-biter in this tournament, backing his argument up with references to the semifinals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when the Americans had to survive a last-second miss by Lithuania to advance to the gold medal game.

"He really knows (Argentina) and he's brought it up two or three times,'' U.S. forward Elton Brand said. "He brings it up in the context that if we're up 30, 40 points, we need to work on our game. We can't worry about the score because when we play a team like Argentina we're going to have to play our game. We're going to need to run our sets, so let's get away from all the highlight stuff and throwing bad passes because they're a good team and it won't be like that.''

No one has scored 20 points in a game yet for the Americans, who are being led offensively by Tracy McGrady (14.5 ppg), Vince Carter (14.0), Allen Iverson (12.0) and Tim Duncan (12.0).

Mike Bibby has been their best 3-point shooter off the bench, and the individual field goal percentages -- Carter's .750, Brand's .737, Jermaine O'Neal's .696., McGrady's .657, Duncan's .625, Iverson's .621, Bibby's .611 and Ray Allen's .609 -- have been outstanding.

McGrady, Carter, Iverson and Bibby are all shooting above 50 percent from the 3-point line, and the Americans' opponents have been held below 35 percent from the field collectively.

"We're very pleased that they've taken on a defensive personality and realize that making stops and rebounding are going to be real important to our success,'' Popovich said. "They're really sharing the ball, turning from an All-Star team into a basketball team, and that's been (Brown's) emphasis -- turning them into a team that realizes on the right and on the left is another guy who's as good or better.''