Gottfried far from panicking over Tide's two-game skid

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) Mark Gottfried isn&#39;t among those getting worried after Alabama has lost two straight games and fallen from the rankings.<br> <br> He&#39;s certainly not about to make wholesale changes.<br> <br> ``People push the panic button. It&#39;s &#39;the sky is falling&#39; right now,&#39;&#39;&#39; Gottfried said Friday. ``You&#39;ve just got to realize we&#39;ve got new players, new pieces, and we&#39;re going to stay the course in what we&#39;ve been doing.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> The Crimson Tide (4-3) has dropped back-to-back games against Notre Dame and at Temple entering Saturday night&#39;s visit by Georgia State.<br> <br> There are plenty of explanations for the mediocre early record: the loss of leading scorers Kennedy Winston and Earnest Shelton, a tough nonconference schedule and an ailing Ronald Steele among them.<br> <br> The Tide had expected to win with strong defense this season but actually ranks 11th in the Southeastern Conference, allowing 68.4 points per game.<br> <br> Opposing teams have also stung Alabama with 50 3-pointers in seven games.<br> <br> Forward Chuck Davis isn&#39;t surprised the team has had its problems early on.<br> <br> ``We&#39;re a young team,&#39;&#39; he said. ``We&#39;ve got a lot of new players we have to piece together and we&#39;re still not really sure what type of team we&#39;re going to be. We&#39;re trying to find ourselves. It&#39;s going to be a learning process.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Steele has been bothered this season by a back injury that&#39;s limited his practice time. The Tide point guard had ``not broken a sweat&#39;&#39; in practice since the Temple loss last Saturday, Gottfried said.<br> <br> ``The difficult thing for Ron is to stay sharp when you can&#39;t practice,&#39;&#39; he said. ``I&#39;ve had players do that in the past, and it&#39;s next to impossible.<br> <br> ``If he&#39;s not healthy all year long, it&#39;s going to make it very hard for us.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Or, as Davis said, ``Ron&#39;s probably the one player we can&#39;t do without.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Gottfried sees signs that his team is improving despite the recent losses. The Tide held Temple to 38 percent shooting from the floor in a 68-58 loss.<br> <br> ``We&#39;re going to get better,&#39;&#39; he said. ``We&#39;re already getting better. The record doesn&#39;t show it, but it&#39;s not about how you play in December and November. It&#39;s how you play in February and March.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Shooting guard Jean Felix had a season-high 19 points against Temple after going 0-for-5 from the floor the previous two games combined.<br> <br> Freshman Brandon Hollinger also scored six points in 10 minutes as the backup point guard.<br> <br> Gottfried said if Hollinger is able to play more, it will help give Steele more rest time. They could also be on the floor at the same time, meaning Steele wouldn&#39;t have to bring the ball up and down the court every time.<br> <br> Gottfried said the tough nonconference schedule which includes upcoming games against North Carolina State and at Oklahoma should only help the Tide down the line.<br> <br> ``I think it&#39;s going to be one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country when it&#39;s all said and done,&#39;&#39; he said. ``It is forcing our team to evaluate itself much more than we would if we were winning by 30 or 40 points against lesser opponents.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> TIDE TALK: Davis is graduating Saturday morning with a degree in consumer marketing. The team&#39;s leading scorer, he completed his course work in 3.5 years ... Gottfried said backup forward Evan Brock is questionable against Georgia State with a strained Achilles tendon.<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)