[Bamabeachlivin]

The University of Alabama men’s basketball team, which begins practice for its 2007-08 season on Friday night, has questions, like every other team in the NCAA.

However, Tide coach Mark Gottfried has at least gotten a sneak peek at some of the answers.

First, Gottfried has gotten to see his team perform in a long weekend trip to Canada and the practices that preceded that northern jaunt. Second, Gottfried knows already point guard Ronald Steele won’t be available this season. The senior has chosen to sit out this year and rehabilitate his surgically-repaired knees, eliminating the uncertainty that plagued the Crimson Tide a year ago.

Steele’s absence does raise some other questions, though. Who will replace him as the Tide’s point guard. Perhaps more importantly, who will replace the leadership he provided as a sophomore, when he was the healthy focal point of the team? Most importantly of all, how good can Alabama be without him?

“We learned a lot on the Canadian trip,” Gottfried answers. “We learned about our strengths — and we learned we have a lot of weaknesses that we have to work on.”

There might be a temptation to write this season off even before it begins and look to 2008-2009, when the Tide might have a healthy Steele and the No. 1 recruiting class in America to go with it. (More on that later.)
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[Stoney]

Life happens let's see how they deal with adversity.