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Serbia and France are good enough to win mens basketball medals at the Olympics. First, they have to get there.The final three places in the 12-team field are on the line in the three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments next week. Serbia and France, who won silver and bronze two years ago in the Basketball World Cup, will be among the favorites to earn berths after falling short last summer.The new format to fill out the Olympics has 18 countries still in the running for spots in Rio. Six teams will be in each tournament, and the three winners will be Brazil bound.Some teams still trying to get there are better than a few who have already qualified. Four of the worlds top 10 will be competing, including France (5th), Serbia (6th), Turkey (8th) and Greece (10th).The Serbs have a powerful team and home-court advantage as they try to lock up a spot that eluded them in last years EuroBasket.We still need to fine-tune our teamwork but thats normal at this stage of preparations. We are going through this process together so that we will still be playing until the end of the OQT, and hopefully after that too, coach Aleksandar Djordjevic told FIBA.com after his team won its three tuneup games.Serbia hosts one tournament in Belgrade that also includes Angola and Puerto Rico in Group A. The Czech Republic, Japan and Latvia are in Group B.In Manila, Philippines, its: Turkey, Canada and Senegal in Group A; with France, New Zealand and the hosts in Group B.The Turin, Italy field: Greece, Mexico and Iran in Group A; Italy, Croatia and Tunisia in Group B.Each team will play the others in its group, with the top two finishers in each advancing to the semifinals. The tournament champions will then be drawn into the Olympic field, with two slated to end up in a group with the U.S.A look at some top contenders:BELGRADE, SERBIASERBIA: The hosts swept a home-and-home with France and beat Greece, another top contender, in their warmup play. Serbia has one of Europes top point guards in Milos Teodosic and a top young prospect in Denver Nuggets All-Rookie selection Nikola Jokic, but will miss injured Timberwolves forward Nemanja Bjelica and Spurs center Boban Marjanovic, who is a free agent.PUERTO RICO: Longtime guards J.J. Barea of the Dallas Mavericks and Carlos Arroyo should again provide the strength for the Puerto Ricans.MANILA, PHILIPPINESFRANCE: Tony Parker wants to cap his international career with an Olympic medal. The French failed to earn their chance playing on home soil last summer when Spain beat them in the Eurobasket semifinals, but stand a good chance now if they can hold on until the arrival of Nicolas Batum, who is an NBA free agent and wont be available until after he signs a contract on July 7.TURKEY: Their tough defense, anchored by NBA center Omer Asik in the middle, always gives the Turks a chance to stay in games. They gave the U.S. its toughest test in the 2014 Basketball World Cup.CANADA: With Timberwolves star Andrew Wiggins sitting out, the Canadians could regret not locking up a spot when they blew a late lead against Venezuela in last years FIBA Americas semifinals.TURIN, ITALYGREECE: Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is a do-everything star and Sacramentos Kostas Koufos a solid center for a Greek team that scored a pair of victories over Turkey during its pre-tournament schedule.ITALY: The Italians havent reached the Olympics since winning silver in 2004. But they have plenty of shooting behind NBA players Danilo Gallinari and Marco Belinelli and former No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani, a top coach in Spurs assistant Ettore Messina, and the backing of a home crowd to get them there this time.---Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney---This story has been corrected to show that the Italy tournament is in Turin.Brad Marchand Jersey .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. Jaromir Jagr Jersey . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. http://www.thebostonbruinshockey.com/adam-oates-hockey-jersey/ . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Patrice Bergeron Jersey . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Steven Kampfer Jersey . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action.ATLANTA -- Phil Mickelson is making another equipment change ahead of the Ryder Cup, this one measured in inches.Mickelson played a practice round at Hazeltine National on Monday and realized he would need a different driver to handle a course that measures 7,628 yards on the card. So he went back to a longer driver for the Tour Championship after using a driver with a shaft that is 1 1/2 inches shorter than normal for him.Now if he can just hit the fairway.Mickelson hit only one fairway in the opening round at East Lake, and improved to five fairways Friday. He shot rounds of 74-72 -- with two triple bogeys and a double bogey over 36 holes -- and was at the bottom of the back.But he felt progress, and thats what mattered to him.I drove it a lot better today, Mickelson said. I actually should have a good weekend because Ive been experimenting a little bit these first few days or this past week. So today went much, much better. Even though the numbers dont warrant it, all my misses were within a yard or two of the fairway. But you just cant play this course like that.East Lake is dry and fast and the fairways are tight, so avoiding the rough is critical this week. Mickelson called the rough the hardest he has played in years.For Mickelson, its about next week at the Ryder Cup.When I went to Hazeltine and saw how long of a golf course it was, I went to a longer driver again, Mickelson said. So I hit this driver 18, 20 yards longer. Thats a significant ddifference.ddddddddddddI carry it a lot farther, and I think its going to be an advantage at Hazeltine if I drive it well, but I needed to get some play with it. I cant just show up and expect to drive it.Mickelson famously made a significant equipment change in 2004 a week before the Ryder Cup when he left Titleist for Callaway, although his swing was starting to fall into bad habits once the majors were over. This is just a longer driver.He experimented with a couple of them on the range earlier in the week, struggled with one model on Thursday and settled on the other one Friday.Yesterday the misses were huge. Today the misses were minuscule, Mickelson said. On a normal length fairway, I probably would have hit 10, 11 fairways. But these things are tight, theyre tilted, and theyre very difficult to hit.Mickelson said if he had not gone to Hazeltine for a team practice he would have shown up next week in Minnesota panicking like I need that extra 20 yards.Its his first time at the Tour Championship since 2013, and Lefty didnt mind sacrifice a chance to win to work on his longer driver.Ive won two Tour Championships and Ive only been a part of two winning Ryder Cups, he said. Id like to be a part of a third. Not to diminish this, but Id rather win next week. For me, at this stage in my career, it means a little more to me. ' ' '