[2022-2023 MIAA Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced its tenth MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week, presented by Shift Group, for the 2022-23 season.
 
MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week – Diego Bernard – Northwest Missouri   
Diego Bernard put up back-to-back 20-point performances and shot 61.9 percent from the field in leading Northwest Missouri to a pair of home MIAA victories. Bernard averaged 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.5 assists in victories over Central Missouri (73-52) and Lincoln (59-38). Bernard went 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 at the line as he scored 20 points against the Mules. The senior guard also notched seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Bernard posted a 6-of-11 shooting effort, including a 3-of-5 performance beyond the three-point arc against the Blue Tigers. Bernard sank all six of his free throw attempts while also grabbing six rebounds, four steals and handed our three assists against Lincoln.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Tyler Nelson – Washburn
Tyler Nelson averaged 20.5 points with 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assist per game as the Ichabods were 2-0 this week with a pair of home wins over Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney. The junior guard scored a season-high 25 points in the Ichabods 65-62 win against the Lopers. In the final three and a half minutes UNK cut the lead to two points twice. Each time Tyler Nelson had a response for Washburn, first with a jump shot and then two free throws in the final 30 seconds, pushing the lead to four. Nelson then scored 16 points in Washburn’s 74-64 victory over FHSU with five rebounds and four assists.
 
Curtis Haywood – Central Oklahoma
Curtis Haywood led No. 4-ranked Central Oklahoma to an 88-81 win over Newman in the only game of the week for the Bronchos. The senior guard scored 24 points – all in the second half – and did almost all of his work at the free-throw line. He went 16-for-17 from the line, tying the sixth-most makes in a game at UCO. Haywood also added five assists, four rebounds and one steal.
 
Sean Evans – Nebraska Kearney
Sean Evans continued a recent hot stretch by averaging 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this past weekend. The sophomore guard went 15-of-30 from the field and tallied 23, one off his career-high, at Emporia. Evans then got close to his first career double-double (19 pts., 9 rebs.) at Washburn.
 
ALSO NOMINATED
Alijah Comithier (Emporia State), Winston Desseow (Missouri Southern), Elijah Nnanabu (Fort Hays State), Christian Cook (Northeastern State)
 
ABOUT SHIFT GROUP
Shift Group is a training and recruiting platform placing talented, retired collegiate and professional athletes in high caliber Software Sales positions. Athletes spend their lives engaging in team-based activities where they are rewarded for performance-based outcomes. Competitive drive, work ethic, and the desire to win are innate qualities of those performing at elite levels. Athletes at this level must have discipline, resilience, and grit. These are the intangible parts of any elite athlete’s identity. When combined with confidence, curiosity, and coachability, these traits separate great athletes – and great salespeople. Salesmanship can be taught. It requires the right attitude, habits, and skills – learned, practiced, and repeated in the right environment in order to be mastered. Once an athlete finishes Shift Group training, they get access to hiring managers at Startups, Fortune 500’s, and other organizations building out sales teams across the globe – with the Shift Group team coaching them through every step of the process.