Northwest Missouri State’s Diego Bernard a ladder-and-scissors type of player
Filling up a stat sheet is considered a basketball compliment. But a particular data point of Northwest Missouri State senior guard Diego Bernard not noted among the points, rebounds and assists might be the most impressive college basketball accomplishment you’ve ever heard.
Sixteen times throughout his college career, Bernard has had an opportunity to climb a ladder and cut a net in celebration of a championship. That speaks to the remarkable run of the Northwest program that is collecting trophies at a greater rate than any college basketball program in any classification.
Number of snippets Bernard owns from the MIAA regular season and tournaments, NCAA regionals and championships: 15.
“That’s crazy, I didn’t even know that stat,” Bernard said. “We just go into every tournament like it’s our last game, and if we get to the championship game we lock in.”
At least one more ladder climb and net souvenir is available to the Bearcats. Northwest captured the MIAA Tournament last weekend in Kansas City and carries the top seed in the NCAA Central Region that begins on Saturday on the Bearcats’ home floor in Maryville.
Win three, and it’s off to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana, where Northwest will look to capture its fourth straight NCAA Division II championship, and cut another net.
Four titles in a row might already have happened had the 2020 tournament not been called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Northwest was the nation’s top-ranked team at the time.
Great talent has paraded through the Northwest program since coach Ben McCollum took over in 2009. Bernard, a slashing left-handed guard with uncommon leaping ability, may be the most statistically versatile.
The 6-foot Bernard leads the team in scoring (16.2) and assists and is Northwest’s second-leading rebounder. He thinks of himself as a catalyst that gets the offense going and takes immense pride in his defense. This season, Bernard was named MIAA defensive player of the year for the second time.
“My role is whatever coaches need me to do,” he said.
In an MIAA tournament quarterfinal victory over Missouri Western, that meant finishing a lob slam and delivering one in less than a minute that swung the game’s flow toward the Bearcats.
In the tournament final, a game in which Bernard didn’t record a field goal until four minutes remained, it meant scoring six straight and eight of the final 12 to break a tie with Central Oklahoma. Bernard was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
In that game, Bernard sat during a five-minute stretch in the first half and about four minutes in the second. McCollum was seeking the fiery player he first saw at a team camp when Bernard was a sophomore at Lafayette High in St. Joseph. It presented itself at crunch time.
“I wish it was me that taught him how to play with that intensity and effort but that’s just an internal thing that he was born with and developed throughout his life,” McCollum said. “He’s always had that extra juice, extra toughness, extra intensity.”
An extra juice and intensity that won’t allow Bernard to forget the one net he didn’t cut. In 2021, the year the MIAA tournament was played on campus sites because of pandemic restrictions. Tyler Geiman swished a 55-foot buzzer beater to give Washburn a one-point victory in the championship game. Two seconds earlier, Bernard had hit two free throws to give Northwest the lead.
“Great shot,” Bernard said. “Still hurts.”
A pain only a trip up the ladder can sooth, and Northwest did just that, winning the NCAA title. And another after that, plus more league and tournament titles. It’s what Bernard’s teams do.
NCAA Central Region
Saturday
Noon No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth vs. No. 3 Central Oklahoma
2:15 p.m. No. 7 Emporia State vs. No. 2 Northern State
6 p.m. No. 8 Southern Arkansas vs. No. 1 Northwest Missouri State
8:15 p.m. No. 5 Southern Nazarene vs. No. 5 MSU Moohead
Sunday
5 p.m., 7:30 p.m., Semifinals
Tuesday
7 p.m. Championship