SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse announced Tuesday that fifth-year center Jason Emerich will not return to the team because of a shoulder injury.Emerich was hurt in a home loss to Louisville in September and has not played since. He underwent surgery on Oct. 11.The redshirt senior finishes his college career with 28 games played, including 14 starts. In two games this season, he recorded nine knockdown blocks in 172 snaps.Emerich was on the Rimington Award Watch List, given annually to the nations top center. He also was on the preseason watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy, presented each year to the FBS player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.Vans Old Skool White Sale .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. Vans Shoes Wholesale .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-old-skool-sale.html . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Vans Sk8 Hi Clearance . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Vans Old Skool Pink . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain.RIO DE JANEIRO -- The United States mens volleyball team was so devastated by Fridays five-set semifinal loss to Italy that coach John Speraw looked as if he were sitting at a funeral rather than at the standard postmatch news conference. He sounded that way as well.Its really, really, hard. I almost feel like today we need to mourn and get it out of our system, Speraw said. I know that we will. You cant not do that. But then tomorrow morning were going to have to regroup and start mentally preparing ourselves for the next match.The next match will be for the bronze medal rather than gold, which in some ways can be a more difficult challenge than going for gold.Three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh-Jennings said that was the case for her after she and April Ross were upset in their beach volleyball semifinal this week, and she then played for bronze for the first time in her Olympic career. Thats because as much as everyone wants to win gold, at least the loser of the championship match goes home with a silver medal. Not so in the bronze-medal match. The winner of that match takes home a medal. The loser takes home mostly regret and disappointment.The Americans already had those latter emotions hanging around their necks after Fridays loss.I dont know what to say about that, Taylor Sander said. It happens, and it happened, and it sucks.Despite losing its first two matches in this tournament, the U.S. had recovered well (including an upset of Brazil) to advance to the semifinals. And as good as the Italian team is -- Speraw says it is the favorite to win gold -- the U.S. was in position to win several times.With the large crowd loudly and enthusiastically cheering for Italy, the U.S. had a four-point lead late in the first set with five set-point opportunities to win, only to fall 30-28 to the Italians. It recovered to win a close secoond set 28-26, then blew away Italy 25-9 in the third set.dddddddddddd The U.S. also was in strong position to win the match with a 22-19 fourth-set lead, only to fail to score another point and lose 25-22.When a team loses like that in a set, youre going to get everything they have thrown back at you, Matt Anderson said of what it was like heading into the fourth set. I think we handled it well for most of that set, but there were a couple plays we could have taken care of better and taken a bigger lead and put us in a better spot.Italy then won the fifth set 15-9 in convincing fashion. While the Italians celebrated and the crowd went crazy, several of the U.S. players sat on the court stunned and teary-eyed by the loss.I thought we had so many opportunities to win this game in three or four sets, U.S. captain David Lee said. But in the big moments, the Italian team served the ball incredibly well, and that was the difference.Now the Americans have to recover and prepare for the bronze-medal match Sunday against the loser of the Russia-Brazil match. If its Brazil, the Americans will definitely have the fans roaring against them again. But they were able to draw energy from that fan excitement last week when they beat the host country and sent the crowd home much quieter. They need to do so again Sunday, or they will be so disappointed they could spend the closing ceremonies sitting and staring into space rather than marching and celebrating.I have all the faith in our guys to fight and be tough, Anderson said. Of course, there will be disappointment and setback the next couple hours. But were all in this together. Our goal was gold, and we cant have it now, so now our goal is bronze, and well take it on. ' ' '
