Kristof! Kong. The Waffle. The Epitome of Grit (it’s not too late to introduce a new one – after all, you can’t spell “Kristof Ongenaet” without “Grit”). Kristof Ongenaet’s swan song will come for an unusually late Tuesday night game against the lowly Scarlet Knights. Who knows, maybe he’ll be the one who gets to posterize Mike Rosario this time around.

Ongenaet came to SU as an unknown entity to hold down the fort while Arinze Onuaku sat out the 2006-07 season and Donte Greene played 25 feet from the basket every night. While he hasn’t exactly improved during his stay at SU, Ongenaet has provided something that the Orange teams of the last two years have sorely needed: hard-nosed defense.

While guys like Greene, Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf thrived on offensive finesse via three point shots, Rucker Park-ian exhibitions of one-upsmanship and questionable decision-making, KO’s greatest quality was (and still is, for at least a few more games) getting his knees dirty and diving around the court like a man possessed.

Just as SU has needed Kristof, Kristof has needed SU. While he wasn’t expected to be a big contributor on offense, he would’ve seen absolutely zero playing time if the Orange hadn’t posted 80 points a game the last two seasons. It’s a pretty interesting dynamic when you stop and think about it.

Also playing their last games in the Dome (or at least suiting up) will be Justin Thomas and Jake Presutti, who have contributed to this year’s success in other ways. On one hand, there’s the late start, but on the other hand, Rutgers is the opponent, which means that there’s a pretty decent chance that Thomas and Presutti will get some run during garbage time.

I also think this is an appropriate time to bring up the potential early departure of Jonny Flynn, because for all we know, this could be Flynn’s last game in the Dome as well. I’m fully aware that this team is looking like it’s finally starting to hit its stride and that the injury bug has crawled away, but it’s tough to ignore the possibility, however small you think it may be. I’m hoping for Jonny to hang around another year just like everyone else, but in reality, I think he’s gone.

And if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine, but if you’re making the trip to the Dome, consider giving Jonny Flynn as well as Ongenaet a nice, long, standing O when he exits the game after another 17-point, 8-assist night, because you may not get another chance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 am by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.