BRIEFLY : NON-DREAM TEAM ROMPS OVER BRAZIL.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

The only way to tell the World Basketball Championship was in Athens were the countless signs hanging in the rafters.

Instead of a jam-packed Olympic stadium cheering on a team of NBA stars, only about 500 people showed up for the U.S. team's 83-59 opening-round victory against Brazil. Spectators could hear many of the baskets swish from 20 rows back Wednesday, and the clangers rang out in every corner of the nearly empty 18,000-seat stadium.

``Now that we're here, there still seems to be a little uncertainty - on (media's) part but not on ours,'' said Wendell Alexis, who led the Americans with 13 points.

TENNIS: At Stanford, top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, ranked third in the world, took less than an hour to beat Kimberly Po 6-1, 6-3 and become the first player to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West tournament. Davenport has reached the quarters in all but two of the 12 tournaments she has played this year.

Bernd Karbacher of Germany upset fourth-seeded Alberto Berasategui of Spain in three hard-fought sets at the Generali Open in Kitzbuehel, Austria. Karbacher, whose ranking has plummeted from 22nd to 178th the past three years, reached the third round with his 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory.

HOCKEY: The Mighty Ducks signed left wing Jay Legault to a three-year entry-level contract. The 19-year-old played in the Ontario Hockey League last season.

OLYMPICS: The controversy over drugs and sports has prompted an unusual dispute between rival Olympic leaders. Ruben Acosta, the Mexican president of the international volleyball federation, accused Primo Nebiolo, the Italian leader of track and field's governing body, of making ``totally false'' accusations and acting ``in bad faith.''

On Monday, Nebiolo criticized volleyball, cycling and tennis for refusing to sign an agreement on drug rules and sanctions drawn up five years ago by the International Olympic Committee.

Acosta fired back: ``Primo Nebiolo should spend his time wiping out the systematic doping in track and field instead of inventing lies on other sports.''

ETC.: In Fujinomiya, Japan, a throwing error by pitcher Lisa Fernandez in the bottom of the 12th inning allowed the winning run to score and the United States lost to Australia 2-1 at the women's world softball championships. The loss ended the Americans' winning streak at 42 games. . . . Silver Charm, coming off a last-place finish in the San Diego Handicap, will skip the Aug. 15 Pacific Classic and a showdown with Gentlemen. Trainer Bob Baffert said Silver Charm might not run again until Santa Anita's winter meeting in December. The 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner was beaten by 27 lengths in Saturday's race.