According to the Tuscaloosa News, Jermareo Davidson is listed as questionable for tomorrow's first round game against Kentucky. He's been nursing a sore back since the loss to Mississippi State and hasn't practiced at the Georgia Dome. Demetrius Jemison will likely start in his place.
Now, a few quotes from the tournament practice session concerning the "toughness" issue (emphasis mine):
RONALD STEELE: I think anybody that watched that game saw that we didn't play tough at all, you know. That's a player's responsibility. It's not X's and O's, it's not plays like that. We feel like that is something we can control. We can't control making shots and things like that, but we can always control how we play, and how hard we play. So, you know, our goal is if we're going to lose, we're going to lose playing as hard as we can. And we'll have peace knowing we did the best we could.
JERMAREO DAVIDSON: At this moment, you've got to bring your all. Just mentally tough, physically tough. I think that's what Coach would want from us. It shouldn't have gotten to the point where he had to ask us for that. But we're ready to step up and not to let that same thing happen twice.
Q. Mark, referencing the toughness thing, the question again, what you've done in practice the past few days, do you sense the team has a different attitude now?
MARK GOTTFRIED: Yes. Yes. We'll find out tomorrow at one o'clock. But what I've got is, I've got a great group of people. Like I said the other day, that's I'm putting that on myself. That's my responsibility. I feel like I have failed at times in that regard. These kids have responded. They've done a great job. We've practiced really hard the last couple of days. I think they're absolutely ready to play here in Atlanta.
Send them home, fellas.