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.

Gregg Dewalt can be reached at 740-5748 or gregg.dewalt@timesdaily.com.