Early Saturday morning, SEC director of communications, DeWayne Peevy, told ESPN.com by phone from Atlanta that Georgia and Kentucky would play at noon Saturday in a makeup of the postponed quarterfinal on the campus of Georgia Tech at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum, instead of the storm-damaged Georgia Dome. The first semifinal pitting Tennessee and Arkansas would take place at 6 p.m. while the second semifinal between the winner of Kentucky-Georgia and Mississippi State will tip at approximately 8:30 p.m.
The final is scheduled for 3 p.m. on CBS Sunday. All games will be at Georgia Tech. Peevy said the league consulted with committee chair Tom O'Connor, the athletic director of George Mason, on the decision. SEC commissioner Mike Slive is on the committee as well and was part of the decision process from Indianapolis. Peevy said since the league reaffirmed that the automatic qualifier from the SEC comes from the conference tournament then the games have to be played prior to the announcement of the selections on Sunday. Peevy said O'Connor told the SEC that if it wants to preserve its automatic qualifier among the 31 AQs that are awarded for the field of 65 then the tournament must be completed.
Peevy said the league also will limit attendance in the 9100-seat arena to only the players' families, cheerleaders, bands and other credentialed individuals. He said further announcements were pending about refunding tickets.
He said the league looked at all possible scenarios, including co-champs by playing one game Saturday and the semifinals Sunday, but were told that if they wanted the AQ then the tourney had to be completed.
Kentucky and Georgia's head coaches and athletic directors signed off on this arrangement. SEC officials had to agree to this deal because they have deemed that their conference champion is the tournament champion and thus the automatic qualifier out of the conference.
A high seating area of the Georgia Dome shows damage that was caused by high winds near the end of the Alabama Mississippi State basketball game in Atlanta, Friday, March 14, 2008. A severe windstorm has ripped through downtown Atlanta, downing trees
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