Or, as Steve Nash put it on Saturday, proof that “passion and belief are monsters.” Nash, the South African-born, Victoria, B.C.-raised, socially conscious basketball star is a finalist for 2018 induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, an improbable end to an improbable journey for the six-foot-three point guard. Nash, who had to sell himself as a high schooler simply to get a scholarship offer from tiny Santa Clara University, will get a chance to become Canada’s first Hall of Fame entrant when the final induction list is released in April. Nash joins eight others for possible induction into the Springfield, Mass., shrine from the North American category. It will take 18 votes from an anonymous 24-person honors committee to gain a spot in the Hall of Fame. Inductees will be announced March 31 at the NCAA Final Four, and there is no limit on the number of entrants who will make it to the induction ceremony in early September.

Source: thestar February 17, 2018 23:15 UTC