The Capital Crusaders men's basketball team ended their title hopes at the hands of The University of Texas-Dallas in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Division III tournament. The Crusaders were loaded with 7 seniors and were sporting the most successful season in school history. For all of you readers that are unaware of the significance of the Crusaders to the Curse of Cleveland staff, senior reserve point guard Jake Fanning is a close friend of our staff, and we have watched his career since junior high. Fanning was a standout guard for Danbury High School; he scored 1889 points in is high school career and originally went up north to continue his career at Division II Hillsdale College. While playing time was few and far between at Hillsdale, Fanning fled for greener pastures and landed in Columbus, OH at Capital University. Over the next three years, the C of C staff had the opportunity to watch the Capital Crusaders and Fanning lift their basketball program to 3 OAC Tournament Championship appearances, 1 OAC Tournament Championship, 2 Regular Season OAC championships and 3 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament. During this past season, Capital was perfect at home with a 15-0 record, and at one point, the Crusaders were ranked 6th in the nation according to D3hoops.com.

When the regular season was over, Capital had posted a 22-3 record. The Crusaders had the best overall record in the OAC, but Capital did not receive the Regular Season OAC championship because their conference record was second to John Carroll University. JCU hosted the OAC tournament and met Capital in the championship game. Like many of the Crusaders' final games, the OAC Championship came down to the wire. Capital put up a last second 3-pointer to send it into overtime, but the shot did not find the net. After the heartbreak of the OAC Championship Game, Capital and its senior heavy team shifted their focus to the NCAA Tournament.

When I say senior heavy team, I mean it. Besides the 7 seniors on the Crusaders roster, only 3 other players played significant minutes. For those unfamiliar with Capital's roster, the Crusaders had 2 seniors in particular that could shoot it from anywhere. Ryan Wood and Nate Stahl both averaged just over 14 points and shot over 45% from 3-point range. Both Ryan and Nate were selected to the OAC First Team, and Stahl was selected the OAC Player of the Year for the second season in a row. During part of Stahl's sophomore season, he led the entire NCAA (all divisions) in 3-point field goal percentage. I believe he was shooting at around a 51% mark. Capital also had senior post Quintin Mitchell named Honorable Mention in the OAC. Mitchell is a senior from Toledo Libbey who put down some highlight dunks during his days as a Crusader.

With the success of their regular season, Capital was able to host its first 2 games of the NCAA Tournament. During these two games, Capital used late game heroics to eventually punch their ticket to the Sweet 16. The first game Capital played was against Thomas More College from Kentucky. Although Capital was heavily favored, Thomas More came ready to play. The Crusaders needed overtime to send Thomas More home and set up a Wooster/Capital round two match-up. The Wooster/Capital game did not disappoint. The Wooster Fighting Scots brought an enormous crowd with them to the Cap Center, and at times, it looked as if Wooster was the home team. Nate Stahl nailed 5 three pointers to keep the Crusaders in the game. The score remained close throughout the entire game, and with 20 seconds left, Ryan Wood knocked down 2 free throws to put Capital up 3 points. However, Wooster would not back down.  With 9 seconds left, Wooster hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. After Wooster tied the game, sophomore guard D.J. Frazier took his time bringing the ball up the floor. With the clock ticking, Frazier put up a running lay-up as time expired and lifted the Crusaders to their first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 27 years.

Capital advanced to the Sweet Sixteen round of the Division III NCAA Tournament to face off against The University of Texas-Dallas. Once again, Capital traveled to John Carroll University as JCU hosted the next round of games. Capital was hoping to advance to the Elite-8 for a possible rematch with John Carroll, but failure to adjust to a 1-3-1 zone defense was the end of the Crusaders' season. Nate Stahl scored Capital's first 8 points and hit 7 of 10 3-point shots in the game. Stahl posted a season-high 27 points, and Ryan Wood added 12 points. Capital held a 2 point lead at the end of the first half but could not get anything going in the second half and ended up turning the ball over 22 times. The Comets used a 1-3-1 zone defense to funnel and trap the Capital guards and create turnovers. The big stat in this game was Capital's 22 turnovers and UTD's 25 points off those turnovers. The final seconds ticked off the clock and Capital's season was over.

Seven seniors played their last game as Crusaders, but it will be a long time before any of the Capital faithful forget about this talented senior class.

For more of a perspective on his years at Capital, I asked senior reserve point guard Jake Fanning a few questions.

Coming to Capital after little playing time at Hillsdale, was it easy for you to fit in with the team?

Coming to Capital was a great move for me. The summer before my first year at Cap, I moved down to Columbus and moved into a house with two other players on the team and this allowed me to connect with them as well as with the other players that were in Columbus for the summer. We played in the Worthington summer league down here throughout the summer so by the time school and open gyms started, I was pretty well connected with most of the players. Everyone was very welcoming, so it made the transition smooth.

How was it playing with great 3-pointer shooters like Ryan Wood and Nate Stahl?

Having great shooters on the floor always makes a point guard’s job a lot easier. Ryan and Nate were two of the best shooters in D3, and being able to have them finish shots was great. They definitely gave me a couple more assists every game by making tough shots that most other players couldn’t make.

In high school, you were a prolific scorer and could create offense when you pleased. In the final regular season game against Otterbein, you showed this ability scoring 19 points and lifting Capital out of its grave for an overtime victory. How did you have to change your game to fit into Coach Damon Goodwin's system?

A big part of being a good player and good teammate is being able to adapt to your role on a team. In high school, my role was to initiate the offense and get things going with scoring and passing the ball. At Capital, my role was entirely different. In Coach Goodwin’s system, the PG is responsible for creating defensive intensity, getting the ball to scorers, and knocking down open shots on the reversal. So, I didn’t have to change my game as much as I had to adapt to my role on the team and use the skills I had to fit that role the best I could.

You led the team in assists, free-throw percentage, and were tied for the most steals on the team. You did this on just 16.8 minutes a game. What did sophomore guard D.J. Frazier bring to the court that kept you from more time?

D.J. is a great scorer of the basketball. With him in the game, teams had to focus their game plan on keeping him from getting to the basket, and with Ryan and Nate on the wings, it created some tough situations for other teams to handle. D.J. was also one of the most athletic players on our team and perhaps the most athletic point guard in D3. With his size at 6’3” and his great athletic abilities, D.J. provided some added rebounding and defensive length that was vital in our team's success over the past two seasons.

Capital is losing 7 seniors who made up the majority of their rotation. What can we expect from the Crusaders next season?

I’m positive the Crusaders will be a great team next season. With D.J. running the point, they will have the leadership they need to be successful. Two other underclassmen, Ben McGrath and Adam Johns, played considerable minutes this year. and they will be fundamental for the team. No matter what, Coach Goodwin will get the boys playing hard and playing smart. One great thing about Coach Goodwin is that he wills everyone of his players to compete each and every day.

What is your greatest memory playing for the Crusaders?

The best memory that stands out for me is winning the OAC tournament my sophomore year. The place was packed, and after winning, the crowd stormed the floor. I also believe this was the game I was tackled by a purple warrior.

(2006-2007 OAC Tournament Champions: Photo Courtesy of Jean Fanning)

You played on some great AAU teams growing up. A few of your teammates eventually went on to play at Division I schools. If the good lord had blessed you with 3 or 4 more inches, do you think you could have been playing Division I basketball?

Your height has really nothing to do with whether you play D1 or not. The fact is that the best players play. If I had worked harder or maybe taking a chance by walking on at a bigger school, I’m sure I could have played D1. However, I chose to go a different route. I ended up going to a place where not only I could play ball but get the education I wanted and also be close enough and have enough free time to be able to go home often.

What's next for Jake Fanning?

First off, this summer there’s going to be a lot of fishing and hopefully some softball involved. It’s going to be nice to have some extra free time on my hands since I don’t have to concentrate on working out for basketball. After that, I will be fulfilling my ultimate goal I had set out when I came to Capital which is to attend graduate school at THE Ohio State University for Physical Therapy. I can’t wait to start this new and challenging part of my life in June.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends for all of the support I’ve gotten over my career as a basketball player both in high school and in college. It’s amazing to look back and remember all the good times in my life that have come as a result of basketball. I’ve formed friendships that will last a lifetime and wouldn’t change any of it for anything.

C of C would like to thank Jake for the time he spent answering our questions and congratulate Jake and the entire Capital men's basketball team on a great season and a successful career for the seven senior Crusaders . It was truly a joy to watch you guys play.

BURN ON!

-J.V.