SEC Officially Cancels Remainder of Conference Basketball Tournament

There will be no more games this weekend, as the SEC officially cancels the remainder of the 2020 Men's Basketball Tournament here in Nashville.

Nashville, Tn.- There will be no SEC Men's Basketball Tournament champion in 2020 as on Thursday morning, with Kentucky holding a morning practice along with both Tennessee and Alabama who held morning shootarounds on the court inside Bridgestone Arena, and with media and essential personnel arriving the conference made it official and has canceled the remainder of the tournament. 

ALERT: Based on the latest developments and the continued spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Southeastern Conference today announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2020 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville.

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 12, 2020

Unfortunately for the Vanderbilt Commodores and Ole Miss Rebels,  both teams suffered losses on Wednesday night in the only two games that were played. 

According to reports, and two players we spoke with this morning, both players and coaches had concerns about going forward with the remainder of games, and after a confer3ence call between SEC officials and presidents of the league's universities, the decision was made to discontinue the event. 

While this decision was thought a possibility on Wednesday night, it seemed more likely as the morning began and then became expected after word that both the Big Ten and ACC had moved to cancel their tournaments.  

There are even more implications to this move as it relates to the now very uncertain future of the NCAA Tournament along with the economic impact the loss of the remained of the even will have on an already damaged Nashville economy following the deadly tornado that struck downtown just over a week ago.  

Of course, the health and safety of players, coaches, administration and the fans and media that were to be allowed inside for the remainder of the event are at the center, and of utmost concern to the SEC in making this unprecedented move. 

Now concern turns toward baseball and what will happen from here with the remainder of the college baseball season as the Commodores are set to host Kentucky in a weekend series here in Nashville at Hawkins Field. 

Don't make plans to attend just yet as there is a real possibility those too will be canceled, and of course, we will wait with the rest of the world to see, but I won't be writing them on my schedule in ink.