Basketball is in his blood
Fritsch goes from unwanted to prime-time performer at Bentley
By Gregg Dewalt, Sports Editor Times Daily
Maybe there's a good reason why Nate Fritsch is the No. 1 player on
the No. 1 team in Division II.
Maybe it starts with where he's from. Probably shouldn't surprise
you that Bentley's 6-foot-6 star forward is not from the Northeast.
No, Fritsch's hoops roots run deep and all the way back to Durham,
North Carolina.
That's right, this hoops junkie got his start in ACC country - just
a stone's throw away from Duke University. It's a know fact that
there's a certain coach in Durham that knows a little bit about
basketball.
"Obviously, Durham is a basketball hotbed," Fritsch said last week
in between preparing for tonight's Elite Eight matchup against
North Alabama. "If you live in Durham, N.C., you are a hoops
fan."
Fritsch, who was the Northeast Regional MVP last week while leading
unbeaten Bentley (33-0) to a second consecutive Elite Eight
appearance, might have got his basketball start in Durham, but it
was in a boarding school in Virginia that he honed his skills.
"I was there for four years and all we did was play basketball," he
said, laughing. "We'd get up Saturday morning and go play pick-up
games all day. Then we'd go back and hang out in the dorm for a
while and then we'd go back to the gym and play so more at night.
Then we'd do it all over again on Sunday."
Fritsch also played on the school team, but when it came time to
graduate he had very little in the way of college interest.
No, (Duke coach) Mike Krzyzewski wasn't on his doorstep with a
letter-of-intent in hand. Neither was (North Carolina coach) Roy
Williams. In fact, except for a couple of letters from some
Division III schools, Fritsch's post-high school hoops options were
limited.
"Two weeks before graduation I still didn't know what I was going
to do," Fritsch said.
Fritsch did have one offer - from a prep school.
"I was friends with the son of Davidson coach Bob McKillop,"
Fritsch said. "He was at a prep school and he mentioned to the
coach to give me a call. I went for a visit and went there for a
year."
Even though he was 6-6 and had some game, Fritsch said there was
still limited interest from college coaches.
"I had an offer from Stonehill, which is in our conference
(Northeast 10) and South Dakota," he recalled. "My uncle coached
football out there (South Dakota) and he told them about me.
Bentley came into the picture pretty late. I visited Stonehill and
South Dakota, and I liked South Dakota a little better. It was a
little better basketball school just because of its location.
There's not a lot to do out there, so they get like 4,000 people at
their games. Around here there are probably 30 Division I schools,
so I wondered how good can a Division II team be?
"But I visited and decided that for me it was a pretty good fit
academically and athletically."
Fritsch had no clue that five years later - he redshirted as a
freshman because of a knee injury sustained two games into the
season - he would be part of an historic run by Bentley basketball.
In Fritsch's redshirt season, the Falcons won a school-record 30
games and lost in the regional final. Last season, the Falcons won
their first 32 games before losing to Winona State in the first
round of the Elite Eight.
This year, the team has ripped off 33 straight heading into
tonight's first-round game.
"It's been a solid program for a long time, but I'm not sure I
expected this," said Fritsch, who averages 13 points and 5.5
rebounds per game.
The senior has been a cornerstone player for coach Jay Lawson,
architect of Bentley's rise to the top of Division II basketball.
Obviously, he's happy to have him.
"He's a highly skilled player," Lawson said of his star. "His
basketball IQ is outstanding. He's 10 years ahead of his
chronological age in terms of playing the game. He sees the game
like a guard, but he plays all over the floor and at both
ends."
Yet, this year Fritsch's role changed from starter to coming off
the bench. Fritsch was banged up to start the season and suggested
to Lawson that he change roles.
"We were at a tournament and we didn't lose, so we kept doing it,"
Lawson said.
Fritsch still gets his minutes, averaging close to 28 per game.
"I tell people he started every game," Lawson joked. "He started
the second half of every game we have played. That's no
secret."
If UNA is to have success against Bentley, they'll have to pay
close attention to Fritsch. He's not a secret weapon or anything
like that - he's just got hoops in his blood.
And that makes him as dangerous as they come.