Graduation hit the Suburban East Conference hard in boys' basketball.

Forest Lake lost the league's leading scorer, Zach Riedeman. Cretin-Derham Hall's Seantrel Henderson – off and running. Hastings Shane Monjeau and Nick Gmiterko, gone. Mounds View, Woodbury, White Bear Lake ... the list goes on.

"It really kind of opens things up for a lot of these teams," Stillwater senior Paxton Harvieux said. "That's why I've really been trying to tell the guys we've got to start thinking about these things now."

Stillwater wasn't exempt from the 2010 chop. The Ponies lost key seniors Paul Franklin, Ryan Duxbury, Miles Heller and Alex Oman. However, they still will be a senior-laden team that is expected to mix well with the juniors and underclassmen.

It's been an odd few years for Stillwater basketball. Longtime coach Dennis Bloom resigned, Kevin Seim took over for one year as interim head coach, and then Randy Jordan, who brought years of collegiate and high school coaching experience from South Dakota, was hired last season.

The dust has settled and the Ponies program continues to move forward. Stillwater finished third in the conference last year under Jordan.

"As soon as he came in, he started doing stuff top to bottom. He wanted to get down and dirty all the way through our traveling program," Harvieux said. "Being able to look at everything holistically is really key and a good thing for Stillwater basketball."

Jordan's emphasis is on defense. A lot of coaches preach it, but Jordan follows through – as evidenced by Monday's two-hour practice that included an hour and a half of defensive work with little to no shooting.

"My philosophy is, if you want to win at the end of the season and get to the state tournament, you've got to play defense and rebound," Jordan said. "We focus on that from day one."

Without a bona fide scoring star, this batch of Ponies will need to rely on defense heavily should they have any title hopes.

"So we need to focus on drilling it to them that if you want to win basketball games, it's going to have to be with our defense early on," Jordan said. "Hopefully our offense will come around."

Harvieux and fellow senior Jake Malwitz's games rely heavily on defense, but their chemistry should help solidify the team's play at both ends of the floor.

"I can see where they played together quite a bit. They look for each other on the court," Jordan said. "Those two are two kids we're definitely going to look to lead us both offensively and defensively."

Paxton, a three-sport athlete, separated his shoulder in football last year, forcing him to wear a brace for the entire basketball season. He's got the strength, tools and health to step up his role this season.

Malwitz is a beast on the boards, and senior Matt Hilgers will work the post, where despite his lack of size, he'll be effective because of his speed.

Cretin-Derham Hall might be deemed the early favorite this season, but Stillwater should be in a good position to challenge with the rest of the pack.

"It's anybody's conference this year," Harvieux said.