Jonesboro finally set to hit floor

Jonesboro will finally get a chance to get back on the court against someone other than itself today, and Coach Wes Swift can’t wait.

What he is willing to be a bit patient about is his team’s overall cohesion.

The Golden Hurricane will get their season underway when they take on Manila in the first round of the Barry Pruitt Hurricane Classic. The tournament, now in its 36th year, will run through Saturday and features the top three ranked teams in Arkansas, including No. 1 North Little Rock and No. 2 Bentonville, as well as Bartlett, Tenn., which is rated among the top 10 in Tennessee.

For No. 3 Jonesboro, the event will not only supply stiff competition, it’ll provide an early gauge of where it is. Swift routinely doesn’t schedule games before football season ends, especially if he has athletes on his roster who play both sports. The Golden Hurricane did win a benefit game at Mills on Nov. 22, but it’s been intrasquad practice sessions for the most part.

“There’s been a couple of times in the past 10 to 12 years where we’ve played in the Rumble on the Ridge down in Forrest City,” Swift said. “Other than that, we start the week of the Hurricane Classic. It just allows the guys that play football to start adjusting. I’ve found that I don’t really like playing two, three, four games without guys that are going to play