When USA Basketball got serious about reclaiming its place atop the world pecking order, it turned to longtime NBA owner and executive Jerry Colangelo to right the ship. Colangelo tapped Duke icon Mike Krzyzewski as Team USA’s head coach and both decided it was critical to scout international opposition with all the zeal and technology NBA and high-profile colleges invest in their operations.

Which made the call of Tony Ronzone to head up that task an easy one.

Ronzone, Pistons director of basketball operations, was named in July as USA Basketball’s director of international player personnel. It’s his job to arm Krzyzewski, his staff and the 12-man team with everything they need to know about their opponents – this summer in the ongoing Tournament of the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas and next summer in the Beijing Olympics.

“Information wins,” Ronzone said by telephone Tuesday prior to Team USA’s game against Puerto Rico, which it won by 39 points to run its record to 6-0. “Coach K has me involved in every team meeting. I’m on his coaching staff. He wants me out on the floor working with the players, talking to them. So I’ll go up to Carmelo and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got Puerto Rico tonight, you’re going to be going up against Angelo Reyes, here’s what he likes to do.’ ”

Ronzone puts together videotapes for each opponent tailored to the matchup for that game – so Kobe Bryant and LeBron James get a tape of perimeter players and Amare Stoudemire and Dwight Howard get one of the opposition’s interior players.

Ronzone, hired by Joe Dumars seven years ago from the Dallas Mavericks, has long been recognized as one of the leading authorities on the international game. He played professionally in New Zealand, Australia, Italy and the Philippines after a college career at Nevada and Long Beach State, then coached everywhere from New Zealand to the Middle East to China, coaching the Chinese national team to the 2001 gold medal at the East Asia Games. Ronzone was one of the first outside China to discover Yao Ming, spotting him at age 15.

“I’ve been talking to Jerry Colangelo for about a year,” Ronzone said. “I played overseas for so many years and coached over there for so long, and with all the relationships and contacts I have – studying the international game and players, doing so many clinics for FIBA – you start learning the different philosophies and tendencies of other countries.

“It’s not easy to go out and beat anybody any more. Everybody’s getting better. Everybody’s got players. We still have the best athletes and the best players in the world, but scouting the personnel has become so much more important. Coach K has really been emphasizing that. We still do the X and O part, but it’s most important that our players understand the players we’re going up against.”

And Ronzone is trying to give the assortment of NBA stars that comprise Team USA’s 12-man roster – Pistons Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince among them – a complete picture of the opposition. That means not only a video montage that shows strengths, weaknesses and tendencies, but a written report that also might help them understand more about their personality.

Ronzone came to the job with a vast working knowledge of his subject matter, but he’s really immersed himself in it since. And that can only help the Pistons, he said.

“Being around the top players in the world and getting to know them better, that helps,” he said. “You’re studying more teams, more players. There’s a couple of kids just in the past month I’ve come across as I’ve studied these teams, it’s going to help our Pistons organization. I can get Joe D more information. That’s my goal – get Joe D more information.”

Ronzone’s long-range goal is to become a general manager one day. Working under Dumars and now rubbing shoulders with the likes of Colangelo and Krzyzewski are pretty nice line items on anyone’s resume.

“I just enjoy the game and I love the work,” he said. “Working with USA Basketball is a great opportunity and I’m fortunate to have it and to go to Beijing next summer for the Olympics. It’s been an incredible experience.”