Greg Sankey watched professional basketball come to a stunning halt from his phone screen in Nashville, shocked by the sudden news that foreshadowed the beginning of the end for pro and college sports in America for the foreseeable future.
The Southeastern Conference commissioner, in Nashville for the SEC men’s basketball tournament, took stock of what he’d just seen, what he didn’t expect: A player for the NBA’s Utah Jazz — soon identified as center Rudy Gobert — had tested positive for COVID-19, the rapidly spreading disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and immediately, the league had suspended its season.
With one day of the SEC tournament done and four to go, the news put Sankey in a position he never thought he’d be in when he received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY-Cortland and earned his master’s from Syracuse.
“There’s no list for any of this,” he said Thursday, addressing the media in the bowels of Bridgestone Arena. “This was never in any of my master’s classes.”
The decision was simple, though its ramifications weren’t: “‘Are you gonna be proactive or reactive?'” Sankey asked himself. “And we felt right now, given what’s happening, we needed to be proactive at this point.”
Shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, Sankey and a swath of the nation’s major conference commissioners made the call: The rest of their basketball tournaments were canceled, effective immediately. By Thursday afternoon, every single NCAA Division I conference that had not yet completed its tournament had canceled it.
“This was the appropriate decision made at the best possible time — even though a difficult time,” Sankey said.
And for the SEC, the announcement that the conference tournament was canceled was just one of three major pieces of news Thursday. On Wednesday, all 14 SEC schools limited their athletic events to essential staff, immediate family and media beginning Thursday and lasting through March 30 at the earliest, but the conference took a step further, canceling all athletic events through that date.
“Putting the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, staff and entire Mississippi State community first is our top priority, and we stand firmly with Commissioner Greg Sankey and MSU President Mark E. Keenum on these decisions made today,” Mississippi State Director of Athletics John Cohen said in a statement announcing the SEC’s decision. “We will continue to work with our University leadership, the SEC and NCAA in regard to this rapidly changing issue. This situation remains fluid and anything is subject to change at a moment’s notice. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our University, fans, partners and community during this time.”
At 3:16 p.m., the NCAA delivered the worst news of all for student-athletes striving for a title: NCAA championships for all winter and spring sports had been officially canceled.
That meant no March Madness for men’s and women’s basketball. No College World Series for baseball. No Women’s College World Series for softball. No championships in golf, tennis or outdoor track and field, either.
“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA’s statement read.
The Mississippi State men’s and women’s basketball programs did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
For MSU, which has its women’s basketball, baseball and softball teams all ranked in the nation’s top 25, the news came as a blow to championship aspirations to Bulldogs across the board.
“Right when we hit our stride,” Mississippi State junior right fielder Tanner Allen tweeted Thursday after hearing of the decisions. “Completely devastated by this news.”
Allen, coach Chris Lemonis and the MSU baseball team are riding a two-game sweep of the nation’s No. 4 team, Texas Tech, in Biloxi. The Bulldogs and Red Raiders each played in the College World Series in Omaha in June, but with the NCAA’s decision, neither will be able to go back.
Similar playoff aspirations until so recently held true for the Mississippi State softball program, which was set to enter SEC play Friday against Kentucky. The Bulldogs are 25-3 in Samantha Ricketts’ first year as head coach — they’re one of just three NCAA teams to have won 25 games.
“Absolutely heartbroken for this team and these five seniors,” Ricketts tweeted. “Having to look these 23 young women in the eye to tell them the news was the worst feeling.”
The five seniors in question — Candace Denis, Lindsey Williams, Fa Leilua, Christian Quinn and Alyssa Loza — will not be able to play in the postseason in their final year with the Bulldogs, barring a ruling granting them an additional year of collegiate eligibility. Sankey was noncommittal on whether the conference or the NCAA would extend the benefit to seniors missing their final postseason.
“That would be one of those issues on a long list of additional items to consider,” he said. “I don’t think we have to come to that conclusion right now.”
Thursday’s SEC and NCAA decisions hit home for seniors and underclassmen alike at Mississippi State. The women’s basketball team was set to host an NCAA regional site; the men’s basketball team was set to play in the SEC tournament Friday, raring to face the winner of a game between Georgia and Florida that never took place. With a victory or two, the Bulldogs might have earned an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament, but now they won’t have a chance.
“Sad day for basketball,” MSU sophomore guard Robert Woodard II tweeted Thursday. After the SEC tournament was canceled but before the NCAA made its decision, senior guard Nick Weatherspoon tweeted out three of the same emoticon: a broken heart.
“(A)ll the conditioning and hard work we put in …” Weatherspoon said.
“That’s exactly what I thought about bruh,” SEC player of the year Immanuel Quickley responded.
Thursday’s decisions have created a ripple effect throughout college sports in more ways than one. The SEC shut down all on- and off-campus recruiting for the time being, and decisions to be made on extra seasons of eligibility could create roster squeezes when it comes to allotted athletic and academic scholarships.
But the conference and the NCAA will worry about that later. For now, Sankey is working with the athletic directors at the SEC’s 14 major schools, including John Cohen at Mississippi State, to identify a timeline for returning to competition — if it even happens at all this season.
“It may not be March 30,” Sankey cautioned. “It may be beyond. But that remains to be seen.”
There’s no mistaking the effects the decisions made by the SEC and the NCAA will have on players and coaches at Mississippi State and schools around the country. But as Sankey audibly choked up as he compared the events of the week to the tornado that damaged the Georgia Dome and postponed the 2008 SEC tournament in Atlanta, the commissioner offered a reminder that Thursday’s stunning news came at a cost for him, too.
“I’ve not had a situation as difficult and emotional as this one,” Sankey said. “There’s no one in this conference who has taken these decisions lightly.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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