SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Siena men's basketball team is a middle of the road team.

So say the coaches of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which voted them sixth in the preseason poll on Tuesday, in Springfield, Mass., the new home of the MAAC basketball championships from 2012-14.

Iona is the No. 1 team, followed by Fairfield, Loyola (Md.) and Rider.

The Saints were picked to finish second in last year's preseason poll, but struggled to a 13-18 finish, including an 8-10 record in league play, despite having player of the year Ryan Rossiter.

Junior forward O.D. Anosike was selected to the third team all-MAAC, but was the only Siena men's player honored on the preseason list.

It marked the first time in four years that the Saints haven't placed at least two players on the preseason first team. In 2008-09, Kenny Hasbrouck, Edwin Ubiles and Alex Franklin were chosen, while in 2009-10 Ubiles and Ronald Moore were selected and last season Rossiter and Clarence Jackson represented Siena on the preseason first team.

Siena has also had the last three MAAC postseason Players of the Year recipients in Hasbrouck ('08-09), Franklin ('09-10) and Rossiter, last season.

The preseason first team included Scott Machado and Mike Glover of Iona, and Ryan Olander and Derek Needham of Fairfield and Rider's Novar Gadson.

After a terrific end to last season, the Siena women's team in fourth place and pushed six-time champion Marist to the edge in a semifinal matchup.

Surprisingly, the Saints were selected to finish in seventh place in the preseason poll.

Gina Castelli's club lost leading scorer and rebounder Serena Moore, but have a nice core group of players, including seniors Maja Gerlyng and Cristina Centeno.

Centeno was chosen to the all-MAAC preseason second team, while Gerlyng was placed on the third team.