It is the biggest sport that began in America and expanded overseas. In fact, basketball has become so popular on the international stage that many countries play it better, at least in its purest form, than the United States. Just check out the results of recent Olympics.

Even the rosters of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have a United Nations flavor. Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobli, Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng, Peja Stojakovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Tony Kukoc, just to name a few of the international superstars who have become front-line players and stars in the international NBA.

Last year's American collegiate player-of-the-year was 7-footer Andrew Bogut, who is a product of Australia. The star at Utah was also the premier pick in last summer's NBA draft.

Foreign players mean foreign interest which is why David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, is aggressively following the path of globalization for the world's premier professional league. Stern holds out the idea of their eventually being NBA teams in foreign capitals, possibly even a European division. If you have a computer, you can access the NBA, whose games are now carried in 200 nations.

Some fans of international basketball will be surprised by the product forwarded by the NBA. Some purists don't see it as being basketball. The NBA game is faster and far more physical than the international game and some rules, such as traveling with the ball, aren't as strictly enforced as they are overseas.

Over the years, the NBA and international rules have headed toward a common ground. The American college game, which is far more popular than the NBA during the annual championships better known as March Madness, uses slightly different rules in some areas.

A look a some of basketball's rules:

Duration: NBA games have four, 12-minute periods. The international game has four, 10-minute periods. The American college game has two, 20-minute halves.

Overtime: All three use five-minute periods.

Shot clock: Teams are required to shoot the ball within 24 seconds of gaining possession in the NBA and international game. In the college game, the time is 35 seconds.

Backcourt violation: NBA and international teams have only eight seconds to advance the ball out of their backcourt into the attack zone. College teams have ten seconds.

Ball: The international and American college ball is about an inch more in circumference than the NBA ball.

Number of officials: Three in the NBA and American college came with two mandatory and three optional in the international game.

Foul limit: Players are ejected from the game after drawing five personal fouls in the international and college game. The limit is six fouls in the NBA.

Size of court: The NBA and American college game both use a court that is 94 feet in length and 50-foot in width. The international court is 91-feet, 10-inches by 49-feet, 2 1/2 inches.

Touching the ball on or above the rim: Legal in the international game, illegal in the NBA and college.

The biggest differences in the three games can be found in the size of the foul lane and the distance from the basket of the three-point line.

The three-point line is 19 3/4 feet from the basket in the college game, 20 1/2 feet from the basket in the international game and 23 3/4 feet to 22 feet (in the corners) from the basket in the NBA.

The foul line is 19 feet from the basket in all three games. But the width of the foul lane is 12 feet in American college ball, 16 feet in the NBA and 19 3/4 feet in the international game.