There are a handful of iconic images that stand out over the (modern) life of the SEC men’s basketball tournament. The tournament’s recent history began in 1979, returned from a nearly 3-decade exile, about the time that your humble columnist drew his first breaths.

Whether it was Charles Barkley shedding inconsolable tears after a heartbreaking final loss to Kentucky in 1984, Shaquille O’Neal and Dale Brown getting into the middle of a melee against Tennessee in 1992, Dontae Jones’ fiery 1996 title game performance leading Mississippi State on a run that culminated in a Final Four, or DeMarcus Cousins being tackled by teammates after sending Kentucky to overtime in 2010’s win over Mississippi State, the SEC Tournament has tended to deliver memorable moments. But none more memorable — sadly — than the images this weekend will lend.

Nothing at all.

Needless to say, nothing like coronavirus outbreak has come down the pipeline of recent sports history. The SEC Tournament has had its own prior chaos — think of 2008, when the quarterfinals were interrupted by a tornado that struck downtown Atlanta, and specifically, the Georgia Dome, where the games were being played.

The resolution of that whole dilemma, moving the games off-site to Georgia Tech’s Alexander Coliseum and barring fans from attending, did allow the league to complete the event. But it also created the sort of vacant, odd setting where normal basketball decorum and pomp were forgotten. A Georgia team that finished last in the East with a 4-12 season upset East No. 2 seed Kentucky, West No. 1 seed Mississippi State, and then Arkansas to win the SEC Tournament and earn a most unusual NCAA Tournament berth.

Which is to say that 2008 was the gold standard for weird in the SEC Tournament. Until today.

Many, one of the most vocal among them being John Calipari, aren’t fans of conference tournaments. They feel that the events are money grabs. Why not just award the league title to the team that wins the league over the haul of the regular season? “You know I can’t stand (conference) tournaments,” Calipari admitted in 2018. “I’m not a big proponent of playing 3 or 4 days in a row at the end of the year.”

“So that’s me,” he continued.

“But our fans … love this tournament.”

And that’s the rub. The SEC Tournament is for fans.

Fans who save their vacation funds. Fans who can’t swing season tickets at their respective school. Fans who have increasingly been drawn to the combination of one of America’s outstanding cities — as Nashville has the Tournament for every year but 1 through 2030 — and several days of intense and competitive hoops.

And while it’s virtually impossible to fault the powers that be for determining that the tournament couldn’t be played this week in the current situation, it’s also hard not to feel bad for those who lose the most from a year of nothing — the fans.

Heading home from Nashville are a number of saddened partygoers, leaving early from a party that was canceled before it really got started. We’ll always be left to wonder if Anthony Edwards would have had a Sundiata Gaines-like run up his sleeve. Or if Arkansas had started a rally into an NCAA Tournament bid. But most of all will be the image of nothing at all. No cheering fans, no blasting band, no million-watt smiles going out across Bridgestone Arena and a million televisions.

Because while the SEC Tournament seemed to have provided us every image we could envision, it hadn’t. Not until the year when it’s providing us nothing at all.

Save a spot in the SEC Tournament history books for this one. Here’s hoping we don’t see another one like it anytime soon.