RIO DE JANEIRO -- Theres one team that has lived up to high expectations -- even surpassed them -- at the Rio Games in mens basketball.Its the one with a roster loaded with skilled and experienced NBA players, an overall No. 1 draft pick, a backcourt featuring two guards with championship rings and a strong belief it can capture gold in Brazil.The favored U.S. team, to this point unbeaten but shockingly underwhelming, had better be careful.Australia just might win it all.Bonded by a deep commitment to the national team and each other, the Aussies have been the most impressive team in this tournament, which many expected to be dominated by Team USAs super-squad trying to win a third straight title. However, Australia, seeking its first Olympic medal with a program aided by players developing their games on college teams in the U.S., is focused on ending Americas run.No disrespect to the U.S., but we dont want to go into an Olympics aiming for second or fourth, center Andrew Bogut said after the Aussies put a fright into the Americans in group play before losing 98-88. We have a goal of being first.In some hoop circles, Australias performance has been a surprise. Not to the Americans.They play aggressive, said U.S. forward DeMar DeRozan. They execute extremely well, and thats a team thats been playing together for a while.International basketball observers have seen this Australian ascension coming.With Bogut, the 7-footer selected first by Milwaukee in the 2005 draft and four other players currently on NBA rosters, the Aussies, as fans in the U.S. have learned, play with a street-tough tenacity. Add in that guards Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, and big man Aron Baynes have won league titles, and its no wonder the team from Down Under is on the way up.Its been rising for a while, said Australian assistant coach Luc Longley, who played on three Olympic teams and won three championships with the Chicago Bulls. I dont think this is a flash in the pan.It shouldnt be. Australia, which has finished fourth three times and will play Lithuania in Wednesdays first quarterfinal, has depth. Missing from the 2016 Rio team are forward Ben Simmons, the former LSU star picked first in this years draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, and Thon Maker, selected No. 10 by the Bucks. Also, Utahs Dante Exum was unable to play while recovering from a torn ACL suffered with the national team last summer.Three-time Olympian Joe Ingles, who has spent the past two seasons with the Jazz, sees bright days ahead for Australia.Were not all 18 years old anymore, but weve been together a long time and obviously with Ben and Thon and Dante and all these kids coming through. Dellys still young, weve still got a pretty young group -- apart from David, the forward said, referring to 36-year-old center David Andersen. But the rest of us are all 28 and under. I think we can sustain it for a little while, and the junior development of what we have in Australia is really good and we can continue to produce good players.Theres something else about the Boomers, as theyre known back home. They are a close-knit group, which grew tighter last year when Mills organized a team trip to Uluru, the iconic rock formation in central Australia considered sacred by the indigenous Aboriginals.The experience was life-changing for Mills, who has Aboriginal roots. He said the time spent together helped the Aussies better appreciate what it means to play for their homeland.Just to get to know everyone on the team and the meaning behind doing that was to find that deeper meaning of why we play for Australia and why we represent our country, said Mills, who has been with the San Antonio Spurs since 2011. I think everyone found that individually and as a team as well.As a reminder, the Australian team has a banner from its trip to Uluru hanging in the athletes village in Rio.To five-time Australian Olympic guard Andrew Gaze, the possibility of the Aussies stepping up onto the medal podium in the next few days, isnt all that surprising. Gaze has been impressed with this Australian groups resolve and its ability to crystallize in a short period.The flag bearer for his country at the 2000 Games, Gaze, who remains the second-leading scorer in Olympic history, was a win from a bronze in 1988 but ran into a U.S. team smarting from a loss to the Soviet Union.The Aussies came up short again eight years later in Atlanta, losing to Lithuania, which beat them again at Sydney.Weve been knocking on the door for a long, long time, Gaze said.If the green-and-gold can get to the gold-medal game, the U.S. could be waiting.Were not intimidated, Ingles said following the teams matchup in the preliminary round. Were not scared of anyone. We hope we can get another crack at them.Chris Lindstrom Womens Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Qadree Ollison Womens Jersey . Sgt. 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Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday.NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Vanderbilt Commodores have their first new coach since the turn of this century, and Bryce Drew already is making quite an impression.He was hired away from his alma mater Valparaiso in April to replace Kevin Stallings, who left for Pittsburgh despite being the winningest coach in Vanderbilt history over his 17 seasons. The Commodores have been adjusting to the change since summer workouts.Pretty much night and day from how Stallings was, junior guard Matthew Fisher-Davis said. I think itll be good for us. Everybodys working hard, and itll be a good season.The Commodores disappointed last season going 19-14 after some very high expectations with a roster that had two players taken in the first round of the NBA draft in June. They also lost to Wichita State in Dayton to open the NCAA Tournament, and Stallings bolted shortly after despite going 332-220 at Vanderbilt since 1999-00.Fisher-Davis said the attitude all starts with Drew with he and his assistants bringing positive energy every day.Drew knows he takes over a bit of a challenge. The Commodores have been picked to finish sixth in the Southeastern Conference, but he not only has to win games but lure fans back to Memorial Gym after attendance has dropped in recent seasons.We want to work extremely hard, Drew said. We want to play a style of basketball thats exciting for the fans, the passion that we put out and the work that we put out. We might not be the tallest team or we might not be the most athletic team, but hopefully when we leave, our fans hearts will be captured by how hard were playing.---Here are some other things to know about Vanderbilt this season:NBA DRAFT PICKS: The Commodores were one of only three schools with not one, but two players taken in the first round of the NBA draft. Guard Wade Baldwin IV, a starter for both of his seasons, was the 17th pick overall by Memphis, while center Damian Jones was the 30th pick by Golden State. Vanderbilt also lost its top two scorers with Baldwin leadding the team scoring 14.dddddddddddd1 points per game and Jones adding 13.9.RETURNING STARTERS: Vanderbilt still has some size in 7-foot-1 senior Luke Kornet, who ranked fourth nationally in blocked shots. Drew has plenty of experience too in junior Matthew Fisher-Davis, who led the SEC shooting 44.6 percent from 3-point range, in averaging 9.7 points per game. Junior Riley LaChance added 6.9 points. Redshirt senior guard Nolan Cressler played in 30 games last season after sitting out a transfer year from Cornell.NEWCOMERS: Drew will have only 10 scholarship players available, which luckily includes redshirt freshman Djery Baptiste, a 6-10, 240-pound center who picked Vanderbilt over Connecticut, SMU, Oregon and Southern California. Drew also has a pair of freshmen in forward Clevon Brown and guard Payton Willis. Larry Austin Jr. is sitting out this season after transferring from Xavier.SCHEDULE: The Commodores open the season Nov. 11 playing Marquette in Annapolis, Maryland, and it doesnt get any easier. Vanderbilt also plays Belmont on Nov. 15 and Chattanooga on Dec. 17 while visiting Middle Tennessee, the team that upset No. 2 seed Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament, on Dec. 8. The Commodores also play Butler in the Las Vegas Invitational with a possible game against Arizona State, and a neutral site game with Minnesota in North Dakota. Vanderbilt also has its usual home-and-home with Kentucky starting with the Wildcats visiting Memorial Gym on Jan. 10 with in-state rival Tennessee in Nashville on Jan. 14.SEC TOURNAMENT: Once again, the Commodores will have to travel only a couple miles for the league tournament being held once again at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.---Online:More AP College Basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org/ and AP-Top 25 Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker ' ' '