TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama coach Nick Saban and the football team are moving on. Saban has put to rest the speculation that he would replace Mack Brown at Texas by striking a new deal with Alabama. For the third-ranked Crimson Tide, the focus is on getting over the loss to Auburn and trying to finish the season strong in the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl against No. 11 Oklahoma. Saban had said Friday night after agreeing to a new contract reportedly worth about $7 million a year that he planned to retire at Alabama. He said "there were no talks" between his representatives and Texas and pointed to comments on ESPN that he "never considered going to Texas." "I think Ive already made a reaction to that," Saban said. "Dont you watch ESPN? Didnt you see what they put down across the bottom line. Thats my reaction to it. "I dont have any more reactions to it. I think its kind of over so why do we want to talk about that? We look forward. Im looking forward. I made a commitment to our players that are here and Im happy to be committed to them and I want them to make the same kind of commitment to the program and to their future success." Brown announced his resignation at Texas on Saturday. Several Texas regents and a former regent were involved in a meeting with Sabans agent last January to gauge the coachs interest in coming to Texas. Saban found the best way to quash that talk: Re-upping with the Tide. Receiver Kevin Norwood never doubted it. "I went home for the break or whatever, and everybody was basically talking about it," Norwood said. "And I was like, Coach Saban is not going anywhere. And whatever social media was saying, whatever was happening after that, I pretty much ignored it." Alabama (11-1) returned to the practice field on Tuesday for the first time since the Iron Bowl. The game was tied until Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown on the final play to effectively end Alabamas bid for a third straight national championship. Now, the team is gearing up for a bowl trip that would be a prize for most teams, but could be viewed as a disappointment for the Tide. "Were fired up playing Oklahoma," defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said. "Its not for a national championship or anything, but were going to go into it like it is. "Were going to try to finish this season as strong as possible." Left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio said Saban brought up the 2008 season when the Tide fell to Florida in the SEC championship game and to Utah in the Sugar Bowl. "He was like we shouldnt let this loss bring us down to the point where we just keep hang-dogging and keep our heads down going into the game and lose that game, too," Kouandjio said. On the field, Saban said guard Anthony Steen will miss the bowl game after having shoulder surgery. Off the field, the coach had more to celebrate than even his new contract. His son, Nicholas, and daughter-in-law had a baby on Sunday. The sometimes gruff Saban lit up talking about the experience that got him to the hospital in the wee hours. "To have a healthy baby and a healthy mother and someone that beautiful come into your family is really something that you have to count your blessings on," he said. "They actually had a rocking chair over there so I was kind of happy rocking that baby a little bit. Since then, I havent been able to go back. "I kind of miss the little bugger if you want to know the truth about it." TIDE BITS: Former Southern California and Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, a onetime rival, has been visiting with Tide coaches this week in Tuscaloosa. Its a common practice for Alabama -- even Oklahomas staff has come to town -- and Saban said hes not sure why that would cause any stir. "Lane is a really good offensive coach, and Ive always had a tremendous amount of respect for him," Saban said. "Just to come in and brainstorm a little bit just some professional ideas with our guys, I think, is a real positive thing. And I dont know why theres any reaction to it. Im really quite surprised." cheap nfl jerseys . This is never more true than when it comes to rookies, getting their first chance to shine in the NHL. No matter how highly-touted, there comes a time when new NHLers need to show what they can do when they play with the big boys. nfl jerseys china . The win moved the defending champions ahead of Canada atop Group H in round-robin play. Finland, which plays Canada on Friday, joined Sweden and Russia as the only teams undefeated in regulation at the tournament. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinapla... .S. Olympic Trials next summer in the hopes of qualifying for London 2012. This would be her fourth Olympic appearance, having competed in Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 before retiring at age 24. [url=http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinaplay.com/]wholesale nfl jerseys . The 35-year-old said he will retire after the Montreal Impact plays their final regular season game on Saturday against the New England Revolution. cheap jerseys from china . "That was a good character win for us," said Battalion forward Brandon Robinson. "Matej (Machovsky) has been great for us all year." Philip Lane scored twice and Robinson chipped in with a goal of his own for Brampton (15-10-4).DURHAM, N.C. -- The shot that would have beaten No. 8 Duke hung on the rim, bouncing once, then twice. "It felt like an eternity," freshman Jabari Parker said. Once it fell harmlessly off the rim, the Blue Devils finally exhaled. Parker scored 23 points and blocked one of Marylands two shots in the final 10 seconds of the Blue Devils 69-67 victory Saturday night. "That was vintage Cameron, man," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That was one for the ages." Rodney Hood and Rasheed Sulaimon added 11 points each for the Blue Devils (20-5, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their eighth in nine games and started a run of four games in eight nights by giving the Terrapins a hard-to-swallow loss in their last scheduled visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium. The ACCs top 3-point shooting team was just 5 of 24 from long range and shot 23 per cent in the second half. Duke led by double figures for all of about 15 seconds before scratching its way to the 20-win mark for the 18th straight year. "Sometimes the basketball gods fool around with you when youre not shooting, and they say, Youve got to figure out another way to win this thing," Krzyzewski said. "Our effort those last 20 seconds was spectacular." Jake Layman scored 18 points for Maryland (14-12, 6-7) and Dez Wells -- who just about single-handedly beat the Blue Devils by scoring 30 in last years ACC quarterfinals -- had all 17 of his points in the second half. Charles Mitchell finished with 12 for the Terrapins, but missed two hook shots in the final 10 seconds that would have given them the lead. "I dont know how Charles shot didnt go in," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "Call the Duke gods." Parker gave Duke the lead for good when his authoritative, one-handed dunk over Jonathan Graham made it 68-67 with about 1:15 remaining. Wells missed a jumper over Hood with about 50 seconds left. Duke milked the shot clock before Amile Jefferson missed a jumper that failed to draw iron, giving the Terrapins the ball. The teams traded timeouts with 18.8 seconds left before Maryland worked the ball inside to Mitchell. He had one hook shot blocked by Parker with about 7 seconds left, and another bounced twice on the rim but would not fall through. "The guys kind of willed their way to the basket," Turgeon said. "It just didnt drop.&qquot; Said Jefferson: "You just hold your breath.dddddddddddd" The rebound made its way to Jefferson, who was fouled with 1.1 seconds left and hit a free throw to end the scoring. Wells couldnt get off an 80-foot heave before the buzzer, sealing Dukes 30th straight victory at Cameron. That tied Stephen F. Austin for the longest active home streak in the country. Duke missed 17 of its first 19 shots in the second half before Jefferson banked one in to tie it at 54 with 6 1/2 minutes left. About 2 minutes earlier, Wells capped a 12-1 run with a layup that gave the Terrapins their first lead at 54-52, and it was a one-possession game the rest of the way. The Big Ten-bound Terps got quite an early earful from the Cameron Crazies, who taunted Turgeon with their classic "Sweat, Gary, Sweat" chant that had been mothballed since Gary Williams retired three years ago. But once Maryland started chipping into -- and eventually completely erasing -- the Duke lead, those jeers stopped. "Im going to miss (the Duke rivalry) like crazy," Turgeon said. "We played tonight for Maryland. ... We played for all our former coaches, former players ... because we knew we werent getting them at our place. This was our one chance." Jefferson finished with 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils, who have a busy week coming up because their rivalry game with North Carolina was postponed due to a nasty winter storm. That game was rescheduled for Feb. 20 -- two nights after they visit Georgia Tech, and two nights before they host No. 1 Syracuse. "This is a fun time for us and this should really be a good time to see where our team is at, to evaluate it and to get better," Jefferson said. That the Blue Devils missed 11 of their first 13 attempts from 3-point range could have been attributed to rust for a team that entered hitting 3s at a league-best 42 per cent clip. But they also were outrebounded 43-36 by the Terps and certainly looked ripe for an upset. They were unable to take advantage of Marylands drought early in the half, instead matching the Terps missed shot for missed shot. Maryland went 5 minutes between buckets early in the second half. Duke finished at 33 per cent from the field while Maryland shot 41.9 per cent. "We beat a real gutty team today," Krzyzewski said, "and we were a gutty team." cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '