Three-Point Play: Rankings, Sterling Chapman, Darrius Miles

What will the impact of the coronavirus pandemic be on the rankings process? A look in today’s Three-Point-Play, plus a Kansas player of the year who is starting to see his recruitment heat up and a Dallas big man who is hoping that a prep school year helps him to spread his wings.

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More: Notice of allegation to Louisville should have little impact on recruiting

2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Position

2022 Rankings: Top 75

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We are just starting to begin the process for finalizing rankings for the class of 2020 and updating them for 2021 and 2022.

The realization is hitting that because of the coronavirus pandemic, this may be the most difficult group of rankings that we have ever done.

Yes, we’ve been pouring over as much high school film as possible and our readers have seen us highlighting several potentially rankable prospects and others who may have been making noise on the grassroots circuit. But, without the ability to travel the country watching prospects the way we usually have during spring months the coming updates are a bit daunting.

We last updated the rankings in late January and we at least got to see the last month or so of the high school season. But, several state championships were canceled before their conclusion and there were no postseason All-Star games. McDonald’s, Jordan Brand, Hoops Summit and others may not be ideal evaluation settings but when trying to sort out or justify any changes at the top of the 2020 rankings, they would have been important. For instance, it would have been really nice to get to see Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley for extended viewings before making sure we are still comfortable with the order they are in. But at least for 2020, we’ve been watching these guys for years, and change in a final ranking was likely to be minimal anyway.

As for 2021, I believe it’s the most difficult class to rank at this point. A junior season is huge in the growth of a player and it seems to me that the spring and summer between junior and senior years is when we see the most change. There are probably 25-50 guys that we had identified as potential breakthrough prospects, but not getting to see them in person adds some difficulty.

In 2022, we will at least have some room to play. We only currently rank 75 prospects and would have been pretty comfortable going to a top 100 during our last update. The fact that we have room to at least add in several players – even though we may have to be conservative – as we build out to a true Rivals150 makes the process for the sophomore class the least difficult.

The 2023 class? Phew. We don’t even do our first rankings of a class until they are beginning their sophomore season. If we don’t have summer basketball, though, we may have to hold off until during the high school season, rank even fewer players than usual in an introductory rankings or we may just have to assign stars with no ordered ranking of 1-25.

The lack of grassroots ball isn’t just tough on figuring out rankings, it’s tough on the players who are trying to break out. But, junior guard Sterling Chapman of Campus High in Wichita (Kan.) is starting to get his name out and for good reason.

The Kansas 6A Player of the Year as a junior, the 6-foot-5 Chapman led his team to an undefeated season and is an impressive prospect. He can play all three positions on the perimeter, he scores and he’s a very tough competitor. In the past few weeks he’s picked up his first three offers from Coastal Carolina, SMU and Tulsa while others such as Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Wichita State have been showing increased attention.

A member of the Kansas Pray and Play summer team, Chapman is coached by long time Grassroots vet Steve Young who feels Chapman was going to break out because of his toughness.

“He’s the strongest, toughest kid on the court,” Young said. “Winner!

“Can shoot it well from three and defends well.”

A 6-foot-10 and 230-pound big man from Dallas, Darrius Miles is banking on a decision to spend a prep year at Dallas (Texas) Lone Star Academy to be exactly what he needs to jump start his recruitment.

We first saw Miles as a freshman who had a long way to go. Since then he’s shed a lot of baby fat and completely changed his body while increasing his coordination and overall skill level. The hope is that another year to develop when he’s already been making big strides each of the last three years is exactly what he needs.

Darius Coleman, who will coach Miles at Lone Star, says the interest is starting to come in.

“Memphis, Wake Forest, St. John’s, Oregon, Alabama, Illinois, Texas, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, New Mexico State and USC,” Coleman said. “These schools have expressed heavy interest in the last few weeks.”

According to Coleman, Miles has been committed to taking things one step at a time and is now on the verge of a major breakthrough that has him looking forward to showing coaches what he can do.

“Darrius' full skillset will be shown in his (post grad) year,” Coleman said. “Ability to stretch the floor as well as be a dominant post player offensively and defensively as a shot blocker and rebounder. Also his changed body, added muscle and his increased condition level.”