The Begovich family tree reads like a Bay Area basketball genealogy. Dan Begovich played at the University of California in the 1970s. His sons Daniel and Joseph both played at Stanford. Daniel then became a graduate assistant on Jon Scheyer's coaching staff at Duke. And Neal — the youngest, the tallest at 6-foot-9, the one who grew up watching his brothers suit up for the Cardinal — followed his own path through the same Bay Area gyms before ending up in Durham too, though by a route nobody would have predicted.
Neal Begovich graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco in 2019, a Jesuit school with a basketball tradition that punches well above its enrollment. He was named to the San Francisco Chronicle All-Metro team, the Bay Area News Group All-Area team, and the San Francisco Examiner All-City team as a senior. He was the MVP of the San Francisco City Basketball All-Star Game and was selected to the Bay Area squad for the All-NorCal Games. He helped lead St. Ignatius to the West Catholic Athletic League title as a junior. On the AAU circuit, he played for the Oakland Soldiers, one of Northern California's premier grassroots programs.
He was not a ranked recruit. He was not a four-star or a three-star. He walked on at Stanford, following his brothers into the Cardinal program, and spent four years in Palo Alto trying to turn work ethic into opportunity.