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Steve Nash is shown playing with the Santa Clara Broncos in 1996.Richard Wisdom/San Jose Mercury News/The Canadian Press

This article was originally published in October of 1994. Steve Nash announced his retirement from the NBA on Saturday.

At some schools, when Friday the 14th ticked over to Saturday the 15th, there was Midnight Madness. No U.S. college basketball team is permitted to practice before Oct. 15. So for years, hoop-happy colleges have opened arenas and heralded the new season with some red-eye razzle dazzle.

This year, ESPN heightened the sense of occasion by broadcasting live at midnight from three packed school arenas – Cincinnati, Florida, and St. John's on Long Island. The 60-minute show had all the hype and hilarity of New Year's Eve. It was Dick Clark with dunks.

"I called my friend Rowan Barrett at St. John's," said Steve Nash, probably the best Canadian playing U.S. college basketball right now. "I guess it was about 9:15 his time and he was all hyped. He said 'Good to talk to you man, but I got to run out the door. I'm hyped about Midnight Madness. What kind of dunks do you want to see?' I was a little jealous."

There was no Midnight Madness at the University of Santa Clara, where Nash is entering his third season. Saturday afternoon sanity was more like it. The first practice of the year happened as the Bay Area sun shone through the white Teflon roof of Toso Pavilion. There were no dunks or dazzle, just three hours of fundamentals. Practice was open to the public, but few people showed up and the intramural rugby game being played outside drew 10 times the audience.

In a sense, this lower profile is entirely fitting for Nash, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Victoria. The Steve Nash story is about intense hard work and a behind-the-scenes improvement as quiet as it is stunning. There have been a few appearances on centre stage for Nash: two years ago, the Santa Clara Broncos made national headlines when they upset the Arizona Wildcats in the opening round of the 64-team National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament; and earlier this year Nash was applauded for his superb play as Canada's starting point guard at the World Championship of Basketball.

For now, though, a return to the Silicon Valley shadows is fine. What Nash really wants is to be noticed in the summer of 1996, when the National Basketball Association holds its annual draft of college players. At 20, he is considered right now to be at the level of a low-second-round NBA pick. Two years of further improvement just might hoist him into the first round. Not bad for a player who, three years ago, was ignored by virtually all of the U.S. colleges to which he sent letters.

"My first year here," Nash said after Saturday's practice, "one of my college coaches said to me, 'Hey, you legitimately, if you improve in a bunch of areas, have a shot to play at the next level and I don't mean Europe I mean the NBA.' "Ken Shields (former Canadian national coach) had told me my senior year of high school that I had to start lifting weights. He told me to look at Tim Hardaway, probably (before his injury) the best point guard in the world. Look at his build, he would say, he's an absolute tank."

The consulting process is ongoing. Nash has been taping basketball games and studying the best players since he was in Grade 7. "I'd look at Jordan's fundamentals, how he got this foot out there and made that guy move away from him. And I always watched guards who were diminutive and could manipulate players with their smarts." On a personal level, one of his best friends is Donn Nelson, an assistant to his father, Don, coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors. "He thinks I've got a shot, too," Nash said. "He thinks the biggest thing is for me to work on my decision– making. That's one. Scoring off the dribble is another."

Nash will inherit the point-guard position this season at Santa Clara, the spot on the court that holds the key to his NBA future. He has spent much of his Santa Clara time at off-guard, but he knows that he lacks the exceptional combination of size, strength and freakish athleticism to go up against the Latrell Sprewells of the NBA. Against the point guards, the Mark Prices and John Stocktons, he may have a chance.

It's the natural position for Nash, the natural player. They had a free-throw drill on Saturday at Toso Pavilion: each of the 14 players rotated around the six baskets that were available and shot free throws. Most players simply picked up the ball and walked to the next basket. Not Nash. He dribbled his way along, behind the back, between his legs. It's easy to see that the game is his whole life. As he collected his successful free throws he would spin, turn to the hoop and roll the ball in off his fingers.

"Once in a while you'll catch me, if I'm going to class, going like this," he said while using his hands to fake a dribble. "If I'm not doing that, I'll be doing a head shake, a shoulder shake, anything that has to do with what I'd be doing on the court. I've always had the mentality that the more times you touch the ball the better you're going to be, the more shots you take the better you're going to be."

That's why he shunned Canadian university basketball. He wanted the higher level of competition. Dick Davey, Santa Clara's coach, told Nash after he scouted him in high school that he was the worst defensive player he had ever seen. It was an exaggeration but it hit home. "My skills deteriorated defensively because in high school I could dog it and still stop people," he said. "I did not want to play in Canada. If I played at U Vic., I'd be playing Lethbridge seven times a year and the Lethbridge point guard would not be able to get in my jock all the way from baseline to baseline."

He sits in the Toso Pavilion stands as he says this, looking out on the court on which the West Coast Conference schedule will begin in a month. It is not a "TV conference" but the calibre of play is decent – Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, Portland and others. There is even a big non-conference game on Santa Clara's schedule – a high-profile trip to Kansas in December. And, of course, there is also the chance of winning the WCC tournament in March and clinching a spot in the NCAA tournament. Wherever he plays, the NBA scouts will be there to see him and Steve Nash smiles at the fact as he drums a basketball back and forth under his legs.

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