Recently some armed thieves wearing ski masks entered a crowded museum in Norway and robbed “The Scream,” a famous painting by Edvard Munch. It was a brazen act that shocked the world.

But another bit of larceny has happened right under our noses here in the USA, and it’s even more audacious, more astonishing, more disturbing than having some overpriced picture in a fancy frame speed off through the streets of Oslo in an Audi station wagon.

And I guarantee you that around our nation these days, quite a few basketball fans are doing their own imitation of “The Scream.” It’s understandable, because if anybody saw how the U.S. men’s basketball team has performed against the likes of Puerto Rico and Lithuania, they’d bug out their eyes and open their mouths in a grotesque expression of horror, too.

The rest of the world has stolen our game.

Americans once owned basketball. It was ours. Sure, it was a Canadian, James Naismith, who invented it. But he did so while teaching at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass., so because it was conceived on American soil, we own it. We have the deed. Hands off, international community. That’s our baby.

I won’t bore you with years of basketball history. Let’s just say that for a long, long time we kicked butt and took names against all foreign powers. But all that has changed.

Inexplicably, teams from other countries aren’t intimidated anymore. They think they can beat us. This belief is reinforced by the fact that they DO beat us. The gold medal is no longer a gimme. Now the U.S. has to face the possible ignominy of a silver medal, or a bronze medal, or a booby prize. Imagine, being punked by Lithuania!

But there is hope. It’s a little too late for this current U.S. men’s team in Athens. They’re on their own. For future squads representing the U.S. (the birthplace of basketball, by the way) in Olympic and other international competitions, here’s a few suggestions on how to bring back the good old days when we could stomp everybody like we just stomped Angola:

Discard the 'Dream Team' mentality
Before we do anything, we have to come down off our extremely high horses. In 1992, the U.S. put together the first Dream Team. It featured Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan and a bunch of other superstars.

While we destroyed the competition, we also reinforced our own arrogance. We bought into a star mentality. We assumed that if we just take our best players, the superstars with marquee value who could sell shoes and apparel as successfully as they could shoot and rebound, we would always outclass the competition. What has happened since then is a slow erosion of the team concept.

The U.S. team has just gotten worse each outing. When USA Basketball selects a team, it has to eschew famous personalities for unselfish role players.

Pick a better squad
I realize this is quite a scholarly deduction. But exactly how do we do this? Well, for example, this team can’t shoot from outside. When Richard Jefferson is your go-to guy from the perimeter down the stretch against Lithuania, it’s time to rethink the selection process.

Men's basketball quarterfinal A preview of Thursday's U.S.-Spain game USA Spain 3-2 Record 5-0 83.6 (2) Points for 81.0 (5) 77.8 (6) Points allowed 69.8 (3) 46.0 (7) FG Pct. 47.7 (4) 23.6 (12) 3-pt Pct. 31.9 (9) 64.4 (11) FT Pct. 71.9 (1) Duncan, 15.6 Scoring Gasol, 18.2 Duncan, 11.0 Rebounds Gasol, 7.6 Marbury, 3.4 Assists Calderon, 2.4 MSNBC staff

This U.S. team needs role player shooters, guys like Wally Szczerbiak, Troy Hudson, Jon Barry, Cuttino Mobley, Derek Fisher and the like who can pop with consistency from the international three-point line. Forget that they’re not among the NBA elite.

That’s not what’s needed here. Ditto for point guard. There is no point guard on the current team.

Instead of having natural two-guards like Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury masquerading as ones, this team should have a pass-first setup man. Jason Kidd would have been perfect, but he turned down the chance. So how about players like Andre Miller, Kirk Hinrich, Sam Cassell or Baron Davis? Again, with emphasis, FORGET ABOUT STARS. Pick a team where each player is great at his defined role, regardless of his stature in the NBA hierarchy.

Learn the rules
The key is different. The three-point line is different. Zone defenses are common, especially against one-dimensional teams like the Americans. The refs whistle for gentle touch fouls, yet let brutalization inside go unchecked (come to think of it, I guess it’s not that much different than the NBA).

Certainly the Americans are briefed on the differences and nuances of the international game. But as we all know, you don’t really learn unless you experience it.

And it isn’t just the rules, but the style of play.

In the NBA, with 82 regular-season games and then a long postseason, isolation and one-on-one are the norm. In international play, they move the ball around more. These current Americans seem to be getting better at it by the day, but it would have helped if they had prepared themselves before going to camp.

Take some pride in your work
It sounds simplistic, but something needs to be done to impress upon the U.S. Olympians as the Games approach — and for that matter, the World Championships as well — that they’re representing their country and to play like they care.

I think most of the guys who play for their country these days honestly want to do well and are proud of the honor — intellectually, that is, but not from deep in their gut. They come into these competitions with a lazy playground swagger, as if they’re just going to roll over everybody. Then they become passionate only when they get into trouble. Usually, by then it’s too late.

In order for the Americans to reestablish their dominance, they have to be the aggressors from the very beginning. And in order to do that, they have to prepare themselves mentally months before the competition, not while they’re packing for the trip.

Practice, practice, practice
Admittedly, this is a tough one to pull off, but it has to be pointed out that other national teams play together regularly, whereas the Americans slap a squad together in a couple weeks and expect it to be gold-medal ready.

Once upon a time, the U.S. could get away with that. Not any more. All of the participants on the U.S. team are NBA players, and the rigors of an NBA schedule stand in the way of more practice time for a U.S. national team. But something, anything, to address this situation would help.

Even if USA Basketball has to fly the guys somewhere  for a meeting  or a light workout during the season, and then schedule some practices during the summers when there are no international tournaments, it would help to narrow the gap here.

The last resort
If all else fails, then next time find out where the Lithuanians are staying and steal their passports and credentials before the game. Maybe we can hire the guys who did the “Scream” job.