The 2023 Rumble On The Ridge Teams:
BOYS
FORREST CITY • JONESBORO • WEST MEMPHIS CHRISTIAN • PINE BLUFF
DESOTO • MITCHELL • MEMPHIS CENTRAL • LAVERGNE
GIRLS
FORREST CITY • WEST MEMPHIS • NORTH LITTLE ROCK • OLIVE BRANCH
RUMBLE ON THE RIDGE – BOYS BRACKET
FORREST CITY MUSTANGS
Discipline on the defensive end of the court.
Forrest City Mustang head coach Marcus Britt says that is the major area his Mustangs need to work on and focus on as this season begins to unfold.
As a Mustang player and 2007 Forrest City graduate, Marcus Britt always enjoyed the before and after game conversations he and longtime Forrest City Mustang coach Dwight Lofton would have.
“Sometimes we would just sit in his office and just talk, mostly about the game, but not always about basketball. Sometimes just about things,” Britt remembered during a recent interview. “Coach would always put on some jazz music just to help us relax and maybe some country western as well. You know that was the kind of guy Coach Lofton was. I learned so much from him during those times together.”
Following the sudden and unexpected passing of Lofton in April 2021, Britt took over the coaching reigns, being elevated to the status of “interim head coach” for the Mustangs 2021-22 basketball season. A year later, Britt was officially given the head coaching tag.
Beginning his third season as the Mustangs head coach, Britt and his team are coming off a 19-win season a year ago which provided a solid run through the Class 4A-3 district tournament and into the Class 4A regionals.
Next up for Britt and the Mustangs, the Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving Weekend tournament at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena.
Britt is no stranger to the hometown tournament, having played in the Rumble three consecutive years 2004, 05 and 06.
He is, and he will tell you, still a head coach in progress, calling the shots from the sidelines rather than making plays on the court. Learning from Lofton, Britt knows and understands that role.
Coming into Lofton’s Forrest City boys’ basketball program for the 2004-05 season, Britt, then a sophomore, said all he and his teammates wanted to do was win games. They did just that. During Britt’s three seasons the Mustangs won 68 games against just 18 losses.
As a sophomore, Britt a combo guard, helped lead the Mustangs to a 21-7 season, the No. 2 seed into the Class 5A state tournament semifinals earning Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Sophomore of the Year.
As a junior during the 2005-06 season, Britt and his teammates put together a second straight 21-7 season and another No. 2 seed into the state tournament as the Mustangs finished the year as the state’s 10th ranked team.
As a senior, during the 2006-07 season, Britt helped the Mustangs reach the Class 6A championship game, and the No. 1 seed into the state tournament, losing to Jonesboro, a team they had defeated twice during the regular season, finishing with a 26-4 overall season mark. Britt was named All-Conference, All-Tournament and All State, averaging 18 points per game.
Britt eventually signed with and played four seasons for the Arkansas Razorbacks, relishing his role as being a “defensive specialist” or stopper.
Britt’s son Marcus added that the chemistry between the players off the court is very high.
“We continue to hang out together and do a lot of things off the court,” Marcus said. “We just need to learn to get out of our stupid ways. and be a team.”
The Mustangs loss in the regionals last season was a tough one to swallow.
“We have finally moved past that, and we are looking ahead to this season,” Britt answered. “We are looking forward to the Mustang faithful coming out and show support and they could actually be called our sixth man. We really need that.”
The Mustangs opened the season last week with a game against e-Stem Charter School in Little Rock, defeating the Mets 59-56 and then carrying that over to a big 81-64 win over Marianna Lee for a 2-0 start.
The Mustangs are not scheduled to play again until they open at the 26th annual Rumble on the Ridge scheduled for Thanksgiving Day at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena.
After opening with the 81-point performance against Marianna, the Mustangs ended last season with an 80-48 victory over Wynne.
In the recent game at Marianna, Britt had praise for his team coming through with 20 assists.
As for returning players from last year’s team, Britt says senior Kylin Williams who impressed in the e-Stem game, scoring 13 points for the Mustangs, with the majority of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Jamarian Morris looked good against e-Stem but better putting up 12 points in the win over Marianna Lee. Other returning players this season include seniors Melvin Shaw, Harold Johnson, and Antonio Jordan as well as juniors O’Neal Winfrey and Marcus Britt Jr. The team, however, lost last season starting guard Jarvis Palmer to transfer.
Once again this year, the Mustangs will play from the Class 4A-3 conference.
The two teams played each other three times with the Mustangs going 1-2. About Britt beginning his third season as the Mustangs head coach, the former Mustang said it definitely feel likes it.
“That being said I love it and it is challenging and it has challenged me.” Britt added. “And I love challenges and I know that every game is going to be a new challenge. And I want the guys to challenge themselves as well as challenging as a team.”
When asked what he has learned from his first two seasons with the Mustangs, Britt was quick to answer, “knowing how to take and use my timeouts.”
Timeouts, Britt admitted, have been a nagging problem for the head coach since he took over the team during the 21-22 season.
Forrest City’s only Rumble championship game in a 91-81 win over North Little Rock in the finals of the 2014 tournament.
MEMPHIS MITCHELL
Jarvis Jones
Memphis Mitchell head basketball coach Jarvis Jones will be making a return trip to the Forrest City Thanksgiving Weekend Rumble on the Ridge boys basketball tournament this month.
But his presence at this year’s tournament will be a little different than the first time he was at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena, then the 2005 season when he was a roster player alongside Thaddeus Young, Michael Cager on a Tigers team that was built forces with 10 seniors on the 15-player roster.
Mitchell, under then head coach Jerry Johnson, went on to win the 2005 Rumble defeating Huffman (Ala.) Forrest City (Ark.) and Northside (La.) for a clean three-game sweep in the ninth tournament.
Mitchell held off a late Northside rally to win the Rumble title, 79-77. Jones, who wore number 25, drained three, three pointers in the championship game and one two pointers to finish with 11 points. his only other points came against Huffman, a single two pointer.
Young was Mitchell’s start, scoring 31 points in the championship game, 28 against the Mustangs and 34 in the opening game against Huffman.
Jones did stand out in another way during the tournament, winning the three-point shooting contest on the eve of the tournament.
Jones graduated from Mitchell and then played college and finally overseas for about four years.
Jones’ trek to becoming Mitchell’s head coach began with the Covid 19 pandemic year, to help then coach, Andre Turner, who left to take a college coaching position after turning the Mitchell program over to Jones.
Jones is beginning his third season at Mitchell, a school that plays from Division 2A in District 16.
Jones’ Tigers will open this year’s Rumble tournament against the host team Forrest City on Thanksgiving Day in the 6:30 p.m. slot.
“We will be a very young team,” Jones said. “I’m expecting to be without several of my veteran players who may still be playing football so I’m dealing with a lot of our young players until my kids get back from football. The football team has had a tremendous season, and they are certainly going to make a run at state. I’m just waiting to see will those guys be ready to step onto the basketball court or not for the tournament.”
Among Jones’ younger players, there is a talented sophomore who Jones calls a good shooter and has a lot of potential.
“He just literally started playing ball,” Jones added. “Like maybe just less than a year ago. He has been working hard and is starting to put his game together as well as working on his dribble to become one of our guards. My starting point guard is one of the football team’s best running backs and one of my forwards is a linebacker. My center is the starting defensive end for the football team. But, I will say those kids will know which ball to use once they get to the basketball court. Through their freshmen and sophomore years, I put them through the ringer, playing against prep schools, not just any prep school, we went up against some of the top prep schools in the nation. And they have learned and become accustomed to playing “hard nose” basketball.”
And because of that, Jones says he likes his chances to compete once the Rumble begins.
“Once I get my football players back, I think we can sneak into the championship game again and maybe bring back a second Rumble title,” Jones said. “When we take the court, the fans will see some speed, depending on the team we are playing and different styles of ball. I have tried to prepare them for every style of basketball we might see once we get on a court.”
On the road to the Rumble Jones’ team will play four or five games before checking into Mustang Arena, along with some ‘get your feet wet games,” which according to Tennessee rules can’t begin until the middle of November.”
DESOTO CENTRAL
Rickey Thomas
DeSoto Central head basketball coach Rickey Thomas is preparing as best as he can for the upcoming season and that preparation includes a visit to the 26th edition of the Thanksgiving weekend Rumble on the Ridge boys’ basketball tournament set to be played once again at Dwight Lofton/Mustang Arena in Forrest City.
Thomas hopes to return as many as 8 to 10 players from last year’s squad, all of whom played major minutes during the course of the season.
“We lost about four of our kids from last year’s team and we have three returning starters from last season,” Thomas said. “We are a small team, but we do have one big this year. I’m not going to say we are in a rebuilding year, but I think we should finish in the top five in the state of Mississippi.”
DeSoto Central, not to be confused with DeSoto School, that plays in the MAIS (Mississippi Association of Independent Schools) and in the same league as Marianna’s Lee Academy. While DeSoto School is a private school DeSoto Central High is a public school.
“I am familiar with that school as well and I also have ties to West Memphis Christian School,” Thomas added.
Thomas, who coaches AAU summer leagues, says he is also familiar with several of the players from other teams headed to this year’s Rumble on the Ridge tournament and has, in the past, coached against long time Forrest City Mustang basketball coach Dwight Lofton, who passed away in early 2021.
“I can’t say that I actually knew Coach Lofton, but I did compete against him on occasion,” Thomas added.
Thomas returns a few starters from last season, juniors KJ Patrick, Jacob Curtis and Josh Jackson.
With the completion of the 2022-23 season, DeSoto Central made some big strides toward the future. The Jaguars finished with an overall record of 14-12 and 3-5 within their division and competed in the Division 2-6A championship for the first time since the 2016 season. DeSoto also hosted a home playoff game for the first time since 2016 and won a playoff game as well, the first since the 2016 season.
Since the 2019 season, DeSoto has finished in double digit wins each season.
LAVERGNE TENN
Anthony Rutland
Anthony Rutland is beginning his fourth season as head coach at Lavergne High School.
With that, he is also bringing his Lavergne, Tenn. Wolverine team to the Rumble on the Ridge as a first-time participant in the annual Thanksgiving weekend boys basketball tournament.
Rutland came to know of the tournament with help from his brother-in-law, Stephon Welsh who played college ball in Arkansas.
“I was interested in the Rumble because I wanted to get my players more exposure,” Rutland added. “He introduced us to former Forrest City mayor Cedric Williams who also helps put the Rumble together each year and I guess you can say the rest is history. We know the tournament itself has a lot of history attached to it and we are very fortunate to be able to become a part of that history as the tournament continues each year.
Before Rutland came to Lavergne to coach, the team made a trip to Florida, but other than that, the team has been semi-local, according to Rutland.
“We have been to a couple tournaments in North Carolina, and I like the exposure we can get by playing out of our state,” Rutland added. “I think we are a team ready to play in a tournament known as well as the Rumble. We lost a couple of guys from last year, but we won our district, and played against Brandon Miller more than once or twice and our guys are used to playing at a high caliber of basketball. We have a young guy, Landon Bryant coming up, a junior who was our district MVP last year and we have a senior Donte White who stands about 6’5″ who plays with his back to the basket. We are trying to get him to face up and I think we will be a solid team. Our goal, obviously is to get to the state tournament. We fell short of that goal last year by one game.”
Rutland said fans will see the Wolverines get up and down the floor and also a gritty team as we will shoot the ball.”
“We play hard and because of that we feel like we are in the game all the time,” Rutland added. “Just up-tempo style. Last season we fell just short in substate ehich kept us out of playing for a title.”
Rutland’s first year as head coach saw the Wolverines win just four games while the second season under Rutland ended just shy of 20 wins as did last season.
“Our guys work hard, and I try to instill in them what I learned from playing college ball,” Rutland, a point guard, played his college basketball at Wake Forest with alongside Tim Duncan and Randolph Childress winning a pair ACC championship.
“Becoming a boys basketball coach kind of fell into place for me,” Rutland added. “Everybody’s dream is to be a professional and I was able to play overseas for just over nine years, playing against Arkansas legends Scottie Thurman and Todd Day.
LaVergne High School, located in LaVergne, Tenn. houses more than 1,700 students. The school was founded in 1988 and the school’s name means “the green” because the land was filled with grassy meadows and cedar trees.
The Rumble on the Ridge will be the first major tournament within Arkansas for Rutland and his team.
“To say the least, I’m excited about this opportunity,” Rutland added. “I have, in the past played against the Corliss Williams led Arkansas Wings AAU teams. I know Arkansas always has a lot of talented athletes coming through the state. We are looking forward to making our first ever tournament appearance in Arkansas and at the Rumble.”
At the Rumble, Rutland will have his players back from football and just in time to get into basketball shape. Rutland says his player depth could be eight to nine.
Lavergne will open at the Rumble on Thanksgiving Day when they face Pine Bluff in the 8 p.m. game.
MEMPHIS CENTRAL
Vernard Watkins
Memphis Central, Tenn., led by head coach Vernard Watkins is headed to the 26th annual Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving tournament.
The Warriors will be making their first ever trip to the tournament and will take on Jonesboro in a first-round game on Thanksgiving Day.
While Memphis Central will be trying to win their first Rumble title, Jonesboro will be making its eighth appearance in the tournament, looking to win its first Rumble title as well.
Memphis Central got their feet wet in preseason games against FPA and Bartlett, Tenn.
“We return a very special group of players,” Watkins said referring to his Warriors roster. “Seven of those returning players for us. We feel like as a team this year, we will have solid team chemistry and I think we will be ready to go.”
Last season, the Warriors lost in the regionals, the first trip for the Warriors under Watkins who had just taken the head coaching position.
“This is my second year with the team,” Watkins added. “We finished third in our district last year behind Memphis East and Memphis Overton. And we thought we were right where we wanted to be finishing third. This season, we are aiming to be better and finish higher.”
The Warriors, according to Watkins have good team chemistry.
“They know how to work together, and they know how to react on the court and more importantly, they know what I expect from them,” Watkins added.
PINE BLUFF
Billy Dixon
Usually during a normal day, Pine Bluff basketball coach Billy Dixon wears many hats. Some of those hats, he likes to wear and others that he would just as soon not have to wear, but he does.
Not only is Dixon the head boy’s basketball coach he is also the athletic director, an assistant in other areas of the Pine Bluff School District.
Pine Bluff, aside from hosting and playing in their own King Cotton Classic basketball tournament, usually during the Christmas break, will be making its first trip to Forrest City to play in the Thanksgiving weekend Rumble on the Ride boys tournament.
Needless to say, Dixon is excited to be bringing his Zebras team to Forrest City with the opportunity to play in what he calls “notably one of the highest-level tournaments that happens in the state on a yearly basis. A lot of coaches and people are familiar with the Rumble, obviously, we are,” Dixon added. “Pine Bluff has known about the Rumble for several years but this year is our first invite, because you have to be someone notable to get that invitation to the Rumble. And I guess we have finally done something notable enough to earn the invite. Maybe, because we won state last year and the overall success we had last year, that might have something to do with our getting an invite to the Rumble. The tournament always reaches out to and wants to bring high level teams in for the three-day tournament. And I guess they feel like we bring another high-level program to stay consistent with what they bring in each year.”
When asked about starting a new season each year, Dixon his Zebra teams traditionally start out slow and if you look at our record on the front end of the season, you will understand what I mean,” Dixon added. “The way our schedule looks right now, we were actually hoping we would get to come and play in the Rumble. We found out within the last few days that a few of the games that we had on our schedule, are not going to happen. And that could mean our first game of the upcoming season could be our first game at the Rumble. That is a scary thing to come into that level of competition. Right now, we expect to be decent this season, but we still have about eight guys who are still in the football playoffs, who will contribute to our basketball season this year. If our football team gets past the first round of playoff games and moves into the second round, we won’t have those eight young men at the Rumble.”
Not only did the football team move past the first round, but the Zebras have also played their way into the state semifinals, which means Dixon will remain without several of potential basketball starters.
Three of those projected starters for Dixon’s Zebras. Granted Dixon’s basketball team won’t be the only team at the Rumble that has players still playing football.
“But you know, it is what it is and we have been there before, having played in our own King Cotton after just getting the football guys back and getting them into basketball shape,” Dixon added. “What matters, is when you have those high level athletic kids who work hard and they have to come and compete.”
Dixon lost six seniors to graduation this past year, three of those very productive for Dixon’s past three seasons.
“That is hard to replace,” Dixon added. “But what matters to us the most is we try our best to look at the program, not the team. That is the mentality our kids bring to the whatever sport they happen to be involved in at the time. It’s not so much about the team you have this year, it’s about the program that you have and what that program is able to produce. Our kids come with that same expectation.”
There is a footnote to Dixon’s Zebra team, one that also includes Jonesboro head basketball coach Wes Swift.
Dixon was Swift’s eighth grade coach.
“I’ve known Coach Dixon for a long time,” Swift said. “He is one of the best people you will ever meet, and he is one of the best coaches as well. With me, he didn’t have a whole lot to work with,” Swift added.
Pine Bluff senior guard Courtney Crutchfield, whose name is beginning to surface in most media outlets around the state, is one of several Zebra football players who will not be at this year’s Rumble.
WM CHRISTIAN
Daniel Bandy
West Memphis Christian School will be competing in this year’s Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving Weekend tournament as a first-time entry.
However, it isn’t the first time that head coach Daniel Bandy and his Black Knights team have known about the tournament or have watched the tournament.
Bandy said his team is very excited to have been invited to the eight-team, three-day tournament.
“We are very excited to be part of the tournament lineup this year, and obviously, West Memphis Christian is a small private school with a very good basketball heritage that goes back to the 1970s,” Bandy said of his school. “I’m actually a product of West Memphis Christian having graduated in 2003 along with the all-state tag and several colleges offers. I came back, basically to give back to and help rejuvenate the program. This is actually my second year back at WMC and are the defending MAIS AA state champs from last year and finished first in the MAIS power rankings which makes us a preseason No. 1 ranked team going into this year. And that put a big target on our backs.”
Bandy has lost one starter from last year’s team to graduation as well as a couple more seniors, but everyone else is returning this season, according to Bandy.
“We do have some very talented kids this season,” Bandy said. “We have a 6’7″ sophomore Antarius Odom, who has had some college offers. He is one of our frontrunners, senior Amari Foreman, an all-state selection last year and our leading scorer. Kevin Gladney is one of our 6’6″ premier wing players. Overall, I feel like we have a very solid group this season and I feel like this group of kids will be very exciting to watch.”
About this year’s Rumble field?
“It is a very solid field, and we will have some very good competition which should make for just a good weekend of basketball at the Forrest City arena,” Bandy added. “Bandy’s Black Knights play in the same conference alongside Lee Academy, but rest in a different division.”
Last season the Black Knights participated in what Bandy called a huge national tournament event last year, the Champions Classic in St. Louis alongside Vaschon High School. From that field of 16 teams, 12 were ESPN Top 10 ranked high schools.
“So we have definitely been in some big-time events,” Bandy added. “We want to be able to continue this trend of playing the bigger schools especially those outside our league. Traditionally that is the coat we want to wear.”
Not only does Bandy coach the West Memphis boys basketball team, he also owns a basketball training facility in West Memphis, called Prime Time Basketball.
Bandy’s West Memphis team will open their stay at the Rumble on the Ridge against DeSoto Central on Thursday, Nov. 23, in the 5 p.m. game.
No problem, Bandy is familiar with DeSoto Central.
“They will bring a load of talent to the floor which should make for a great show and game,” Bandy added. “And we will bring discipline, heart, grit and hardnosed solid basketball.”
JONESBORO
WES SWIFT
Jonesboro head coach Wes Swift has made an annual habit of bringing his Hurricane basketball teams to Forrest City to participate and be a part of the Rumble on the Ridge Thanksgiving tournament played each year at Dwight Lofton Mustang Arena in Forrest City.
Swift’s first visit to the tournament was the 2005 edition. He returned the next year in 2006 and again in 2008. Neither of those three appearances garnered a tournament title for the Hurricane. Skipping the next four Rumble tournaments, Swift’s Hurricane returned for three consecutive appearances in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Jonesboro’s seventh appearance in the Rumble came in 2022.
It came as no surprise to most basketball fans, especially Rumble on the Ridge fans when Swift signed up for this year’s tournament, the eighth one for Jonesboro.
It’s no different this year with Jonesboro returning for an eighth appearance at the tournament, and Swift is still searching for their first Rumble title, even though the head coach has won state titles at three different schools during his coaching career, Hughes, Lonoke and now Jonesboro.
More than likely, this year’s Rumble tournament could extend the futility streak for Swift, who knows full well that distinct possibility.
“Everyone talks about how deep we were last season as a team, and we were, but fans have no idea how deep we could have been, had it not been for a series of injuries that cost us a lot of experience coming into this season,” Swift said during a recent interview. “Because of that, we are going to be down in talent from where we have been, which is a lack of size this season and a lack of experience.”
Swift returns just one starter from last season, junior point guard C.J. Larry, who played in last year’s Rumble and has shown signs of being one of the top point guards in the state.”
“C.J. has started the last 15 games for us,” Swift noted. “He didn’t score a lot of points for us, but we knew we needed someone who could play defense and keep the ball moving. He did just a great job for us this past season and we think that his scoring this year will be much better.”
Swift lost three of his players last year to what he calls, just flukey kind of stuff. Chris Stacy, who played in last year’s tournament, will be a senior for Swift’s Hurricane team this year.
“He suffered a lower leg basketball injury in our own Hurricane Classic and missed most of last season,” Swift added. “And he was our sixth man coming off the bench, so to speak coming in when we needed him on the court, and he was one of our best shooters. Even though he hasn’t had as much experience as we would like to see, he is going to very good on the court for us. We also have senior Caleb Chew, who didn’t play much in last year’s Rumble, but was doing a pretty good job for us and starting to come on for us and then contracted Covid and pneumonia back-to-back in January.”
Swift also said that he was counting on junior guard Kelen Smith who ended up with two concussions during the past season that kept him out a total of five weeks.
“So, we have Larry coming back with Smith and Chew but we don’t know how they are going to react,” Swift added. “And we have to work through that process. We have some talent, but we just have to work through some of these injuries and we are a small team, with no one taller than 6’4”. I tell everyone they have no idea how deep we could have been had those three not been injured and on the sidelines.
Bottom line according to Swift, Jonesboro will be playing with lack of size and lack of experience.