Remainder of SEC Tournament canceled amid coronavirus concerns
At a news conference called Thursday to answer questions about the cancellation of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Commissioner Greg Sankey recalled the last time the competition was interrupted.
That came in 2008 when a tornado hit the Georgia Dome during a game. That forced the SEC to grapple well into the early morning hours about what to do. Ultimately, the league decided to move the tournament to Georgia Tech’s on-campus arena.
After recalling how Georgia was forced to win two games in one day on its Cinderella roll to the championship, Sankey said he came upon a Bulldogs player in a hallway. Carrying the championship trophy, the player said it was the greatest day of his life.
Sankey paused to compose himself, not needing to say that no player this year will get to experience such a moment.
Sankey cited “stark information” about the coronavirus that led the NCAA to announce on Wednesday that it would bar fans from attending the NCAA Tournament. That led the SEC to announce it, too, would limit fan attendance.
In addition the SEC Tournament, the league also canceled all regular-season competition involving SEC teams through March 30.
A decision on athletic events after March 30 had not been made, Sankey said.
Later in the day, the NCAA went a step further, declaring that the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments would be canceled along with all remaining winter and spring championships in every sport.
Of the cancellations, Sankey said, “I’ve not had a situation as difficult and emotional as this one.”
Noting that UK President Eli Capilouto is the SEC’s representative on the NCAA Board of Directors, Sankey said a meeting of that board Wednesday afternoon contributed to the decision to cancel the league tournament.
“It was about spread, about the need to interrupt the potential spread,” Sankey said he learned from speaking to Capilouto. “... and the role of college athletics in that stop.”
UK Coach John Calipari said he supported the decision to cancel the SEC Tournament.
“Right decision,” he said. “You can’t be playing these things.”
The decision to cancel came as Kentucky concluded its practice in Bridgestone Arena. The team left shortly thereafter.
In an interview with ESPN, Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes also voiced support. He said the coronavirus, which has been deemed a pandemic, made cancellation the right decision.
“I want them to take it seriously,” Barnes said of the Tennessee players. “I did not want them to think there was somebody in this building right now that had the virus. But, you have to understand this is very serious, and you’ve got to take it seriously, and not be kidding around about it and, you know, act like you can’t touch this guy.”
The threat of a player-to-player spread of the disease was a factor in the decision to cancel the SEC Tournament, Sankey said. The commissioner noted how he had exchanged text messages with Oklahoma City Thunder Coach Billy Donovan, who formerly coached at Florida. The texts concerned how the NBA had suspended play after learning a player had become infected.
“That had been on our mind for a number of days and weeks,” Sankey said of player-to-player spread of the virus. “Are you going to be proactive or reactive? We felt, right now, given what’s happening, we needed to be proactive at this point.”
Barnes said the SEC would have been taking a risk if play continued. Tennessee was to play Alabama in the first quarterfinal game on Thursday.
“If we had gone out and played today, we would be really hoping that we were lucky that nothing would happen … ,” Barnes said. “Now, we made the right, safe decision.
“I’m just happy because I do know the right decision was made for those guys. Because they really hadn’t had a voice in it. And, fact is, they were wondering if we were going to do the right thing.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 12:09 PM.