Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
He had dreamed of this since he was a little kid, but now that the moment was at hand, he was struggling to control his emotions.
“I was really nervous,” Andy Neff said. “My heart started racing and I had butterflies. I just kept thinking, ‘I didn’t want to screw up.’”
There were just three minutes and 43 seconds left Thursday night in what would end up a 91-52 Wright State rout of the University of Northwestern Ohio – an NAIA Division II school in Lima – when Raiders coach Scott Nagy sent Neff into his first-ever college game.
Halfway up Section 204 in the Nutter Center, Alex Neff – Andy’s twin brother – was one of the first of the dozen or so family members and friends sitting together to see the 6-foot-7 freshman walk-on head out onto the court after a timeout.
This moment was what he, too, had long dreamed of.
“Since third grade they’ve wanted to go to school together,” said Doug Neff, the twins’ father.
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And when it came time for college, Alex and Andy wanted to go to the same place and both play sports there.
They had done that at Oakwood High School, where they both – Alex at 6-foot-4, Andy at nearly 6-foot-8 – stood out. But continuing their side by side athletic careers in college seemed remote since Alex had committed at age 15 to play baseball at Kent State.
At about the same time, Andy, a sophomore starter on the Oakwood basketball team, broke his foot and was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Once healed, he returned and started for the Lumberjacks as a junior and senior – was named third team all-area in Division II this past March — but said he drew little interest from colleges.
Cedarville took a look at him, he said, but only Sinclair Community College actually made an offer.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Andy said.
To facilitate a plan, Alex had de-committed from Kent State, took a look at the Wright State baseball program, loved what he saw and soon was offered a scholarship.
His dad said Alex began to embrace the idea that his twin brother could play basketball at WSU as a walk-on. That’s when Andy said he started sending tapes and videos of his hoops efforts to the Raiders coaches.
When he heard nothing back at first, he feared the plan was kaput.
“Then on graduation night, that would be late May, I got a text,” he said smiling. “It said something like: ‘Hi, I’m Clint Sargent at Wright State. We’ve looked at you and want to know if you will work out with us for a walk-on spot?’”
When WSU called him back after his workout, he showed up with his mom, Nancy, a math teacher at Sinclair.
“They offered him a spot and wondered if would like to go think about it first,” Doug laughed. “Andy told them, ‘No, I’m ready to commit right here.’”
‘He loves those guys’
“We’re basically the same person,” said Alex.
“We’ve been best friends since we were born,” Andy said.
They said their mom dressed them alike when they were young. And even now they still share the same bedroom in their Oakwood home.
“We talk all the time and play video games together and any time we go out, we go with each other,” Andy said. “We’re just very close.
“I could have gone to Sinclair and been just 15 minutes away, but that wouldn’t be the same. It’s good to see my brother every day and talk and laugh.”
