High school basketball report

meaningful minutes because it’ll affect the rotation.

“The disadvantage to that, though, is that when we do play our first game, it’s usually against teams that’s played four or five games already. Now the advantage for us is that a lot of times, we’ll have most of our guys on the floor from Day 1 to where we can start forming that rotation that everybody is looking for.”

Conditioning is the biggest key for the incoming football players, but what Swift will be keeping tabs on today revolves around detail. He knows there will be mistakes throughout for the defending Class 5A champions. However, effort, defensive communication and offensive flow are areas he’ll be zeroing in on against a Manila team that’s ranked No. 2 in Class 3A.

Jonesboro, though, is loaded, which will make its current transition period a bit smoother. The Golden Hurricane will miss program staple Keyln McBride, who’s now at Harding, but they have all-staters Jesse Washington and Amarion Wilson back, as well as Isaac Harrell, Kavon Pointer and Devarious Montgomery — three players who combined for 25 points and 17 rebounds in last season’s title game.

Jonesboro also has a deep bench, and when the second semester begins, it’ll have Oklahoma State signee Quion Williams. The 6-4, 185-pound guard, who played at Jonesboro as a freshman before moving to Texas, recently transferred back.

“This is my 28th year of doing this, and I’ve found that it’ll be the first to the middle of January before they all really start hitting their strides,” Swift explained. “It won’t be until then until they show what they’re really capable of, and that’s OK. I tell everybody the ceiling to improve is high, especially for the incoming guys. They bring a level of toughness that we like.”

There’s figures to be plenty of physical play during a Hurricane Classic that’s expected to draw huge crowds.

“It’s going to be a really good tournament,” Swift said. “The cool thing about it is you go to a lot of these tournaments early in the season, and you’re going to get some good competition. But a lot of times, you don’t get an atmosphere.

“You’ll play in empty gyms sometimes, unless the home team is playing. In this one, it won’t be that way. The atmosphere will be great, and the kids on the floor will have to communicate over the noise. The things they’ll have to do in the postseason to be successful, they’ll have to do it here, too.”