Since the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, Georgia Tech officials have received text message alerts if something potentially disastrous happens in Atlanta.

Paul Griffin's Blackberry vibrated about 10 o'clock Friday night.

Griffin, the senior associate athletics director at Georgia Tech, was in Charlotte at the ACC Tournament and had just returned to his hotel room. Shortly after getting the message about the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta, Griffin received a phone call from Khalil Johnson, the CEO of the Georgia Dome.

"Khalil wanted to know if we could get our building ready on Saturday in case the SEC needed it," Griffin said. "I told him we could make it happen."

That text message and phone call began a process that lasted all night and all morning and resulted in a noon SEC Tournament game between Georgia and Kentucky at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

When the tornado hit the Georgia Dome at 9:40 p.m. on Friday, meetings immediately began on how best to complete the SEC Tournament. The SEC was able to finish the Alabama-Mississippi State game, which was a couple of minutes into overtime when the tornado hit, but the decision was made not to play the last quarterfinal game between Kentucky and Georgia. Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's championship game would also have to be moved.

"We were given assurances from the Georgia Dome people that the structure was safe," said Charles Bloom, the associate commissioner of the SEC. "That's why we could finish the Mississippi State Alabama game. But after that our biggest concern was that we saw another weather front coming through. We did not want to take the risk that it could be just as severe. That's why we didn't play the Georgia-Kentucky game."

Georgia Dome officials, including Johnson and general manager Carl Adkins, met with SEC officials and all five of the athletics directors whose schools would be affected by any change. Even though Georgia Dome officials said the building was structurally sound, the possibility of more bad weather and the damage at the adjacent World Congress Center dictated a change of venue, SEC senior associate commissioner Mark Womack said.

A number of options and a number of venues were discussed. Philips Arena, which was spared by the storm, was not an option because of a concert booking on Saturday night. When Griffin assured Johnson that Tech could get its building ready by 11 a.m. Saturday, the decision was made to play the games at Alexander.

"We met all night and kicked around every option we had," said Mitch Barnhart, the athletics director at Kentucky. "There really were no good ones. It was in the best interest of the conference to finish the tournament and somebody was going to be inconvenienced. I'm just glad I have an understanding basketball coach."

Calling the whole thing off was not an option.

The SEC needed to complete the tournament because the winner, by rule, receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. And that automatic bid must be submitted to the selection committee in time to announce the tournament field at 6 p.m.

"Ultimately it is the SEC's decision but we have to do what is best for the conference and to work with the committee as best we can," Womack said. "We don't like the inconvenience for our fans, but this was best situation we could design."

During the night the SEC was in constant communication with the NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee, which is meeting in Indianapolis. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is a member of that committee and was in the meeting room watching the SEC game when the tornado hit the Georgia Dome. He was on the phone for the rest of the night and well into Saturday morning.

"I am proud to serve on the committee but I can't tell you how badly I wanted to be in Atlanta," Slive said by phone from Indianapolis. "I didn't get to bed until 4:30 a.m. Our staff in Atlanta didn't go to bed at all. I can't tell you how grateful we are to Paul Griffin and the people at Georgia Tech."

After Griffin got the first call in Charlotte, he was immediately in touch with his facilities manager back in Atlanta. The first thing he wanted to know was the condition of the roof and Alexander Memorial Coliseum. On Feb. 21 Georgia Tech had to postpone a game with Virginia because severe storms caused the roof to leak.

"I wanted to make sure we were okay before we committed to anything," Griffin said. "We were. Then I started calling our vendors to let them know that we would be having some games."

Griffin said that Georgia Tech would not be charging the SEC or the Georgia Dome a rental fee for the games on Saturday and Sunday. The Dome will pay for the staff Georgia Tech hired to help manage the game.

"If my house got damaged and Khalil Johnson had an extra room in his house, he wouldn't charge me," Griffin said. "This is what friends do for each other."

Then there was the matter of television. The SEC championship was originally scheduled to be nationally televised at 1 p.m. on CBS. Womack said Saturday there were discussions with the Big Ten conference about switching time slots. The Big Ten championship is set for 3 p.m. on CBS. When the Big Ten declined to make the switch, CBS moved the SEC championship to a 3:30 p.m. start. It will be shown on CBS in the home markets of the two teams involved. Everyone else can see the game on ESPN2.