Edwin Ubiles and the Saints are as easy a choice as ever for the top spot in the PMI.

The weekly power rankings post -- brought to you about 12 hours late because of an outrageously busy night in the office -- is something I look forward to even on boring weeks when there are no real decisions to be made on where to rank each team.

This week, the conference is especially muddled, making the rankings even more subjective than usual.

A third of the way through the conference schedule, the MAAC has two teams -- Siena and Fairfield -- with winning records, three -- Manhattan, Loyola and Marist -- with losing records, and everyone else sitting in a massive five-way tie for third place at 3-3.

If this were a purely scientific process, there'd be a way to sort out the 3-3 teams based on strength of schedule within the conference, margin of victory, home/road record, or some other quantitative measure.

I took all of those factors into consideration, but style points, momentum and long-term track records count for something, too.

Here, then, is what I came up with for Week 2 of the PMI:

1. Siena: Records: 13-4 overall, 6-0 MAAC; RPI: 41; Position: Stayed the same

I'm a bit perplexed by the Saints' relatively slow starts in the past two games, but equally impressed by their ability to turn it on quickly and blow teams away down the stretch. This team isn't as good right now as last year's team, but the competition is significantly weaker, making them even more dominant.

2. Fairfield: Records: 12-4 overall, 5-1 MAAC; RPI: 119 Position: Moved up one spot

Good as this team is -- and it's shaping up to be the best Fairfield team since at least the NIT season of 2002-03 -- it's not a good sign for the league that the Stags are in this spot. The league prospered last year when Niagara and Rider -- both considered in the upper echelon of mid-major programs -- were positioned as the top threats to Siena (and by no coincidence, the two teams that beat Siena). The Stags, who have only one double-digit MAAC win despite so-so competition, aren't yet on that level. But it's still a testament to Ed Cooley and a few key players such as Derek Needham, Yorel Hawkins and Anthony Johnson, that they're ranked this high.

3. Iona: Records: 11-6 overall, 3-3 MAAC; RPI: 91; Position: Moved up two spots

This is where the fun begins. While cruising down I-684 on my way back from Poughkeepsie Monday night, I considered putting a number of teams in this spot, but wound up choosing the Gaels based on the quality of their wins and the fact that they've played four of their six MAAC games on the road. Of the five 3-3 teams, Iona is the only one that hasn't played Marist or Manhattan. They've also already gotten one game with Siena out of the way, have won at Niagara and Rider, and won their last two games -- both on the road -- by a combined 29 points. That's impressive stuff, especially from a team that hasn't gotten out of the play-in round since winning the MAAC title in 2005-06.

4. Niagara: Records: 10-8 overall, 3-3 MAAC; RPI: 130; Position: Moved down two spots

My instinct was to put the Eagles ahead of Iona based solely on their track record. They've built up quite a bit of equity over the past three years, and the fact that they're still jelling after a host of injuries certainly isn't lost on me. But much like Rider, things just haven't clicked the way they did last year. And lest anyone forget, 6-10 centers like Benson Egemonye don't exactly grow on trees in the MAAC. Had they either remained competitive down the stretch against Siena or found a way to win at Saint Peter's, I'd feel a lot better about them. That they were able to do neither shows me something is missing here, and that the Eagles aren't the bona fide title contender many -- myself included -- thought they were.

5. Saint Peter's: Records: 8-8 overall, 3-3 MAAC; RPI: 197; Position: Moved down one spot

Yes, the Peacocks pulled the proverbial rabbit out of a hat Monday and knocked off Niagara, but that was one game, in their home building, and if the same game was played again tomorrow in the same gym, I'd bet on the Eagles and give you the points. That's why I think Iona and Niagara are clearly the most impressive teams in the five-way tie, while the bottom three here -- SPC, Rider and Canisius -- are all very close. You could make a case that Rider (because of its track record) or Canisius (because it has two of the most dangerous offensive threats in the league) should be ahead of the Peacocks, of the three teams, SPC has the two best wins: At Iona and Monday against Niagara.

6. Rider: Records: 10-8 overall, 3-3 MAAC; RPI: 154; Position: Stayed the same

As I wrote right off the bat in my game story Monday, you'd be foolish not to remember who the Broncs' opponent was in their 84-62 win: A team that scored 38 points against Hartford, has lost 11 games by double digits and may well go down as one of the worst teams in MAAC history. Yet I don't think Marist has gotten worse since the teams met Dec. 6 in Lawrenceville, and in that game, the Red Foxes were one or two jump shots away from winning. Monday couldn't have been more different: The Broncs blew the Foxes' doors off and probably could have won by 50 if they wanted to. They played well enough Monday for me to think there's at least a chance they're going to turn things around.

7. Canisius: Records: 8-9 overall, 3-3 MAAC; RPI: 203; Position: Stayed the same

Any team that has Frank Turner and Julius Coles -- if they're playing the way they are now -- has a chance to win any MAAC game, including games against Siena. That's why unlike Rider, the Griffins were competitive for 30 minutes at the Times Union Center. But although they've had a few promising performances, I'm not ready to trust them yet, given that they lost by 14 to a bad Manhattan team and haven't beaten a MAAC team other than Marist on the road.

8. Manhattan: Records: 7-9 overall, 2-4 MAAC; RPI: 220; Position: Moved up one spot

When I ranked the Jaspers last in the preseason, I vastly underestimated the impact of Rico Pickett, who's third in the league in scoring and -- as he demonstrated Sunday at Fairfield -- capable of going off in any game. The way the Alabama transfer is playing, he should be a second-team all-league pick, and he and Darryl Crawford are a good enough 1-2 punch to make this team respectable. But it remains true that the Jaspers are no better than they were last year, and that Barry Rohrssen better start figuring things out fairly quickly if he wants to stick around for more than another year.

9. Loyola: Records: 8-8 overall, 1-5 MAAC; RPI: 184; Position: Moved down one spot

Having played Siena, Fairfield and Iona, several of the toughest games on the Hounds' schedule are behind them -- one reason realtimerpi.com projects them to win seven of their final 12 games and finish with a respectable 8-10 record in the league. Yet no matter the competition, if this were a middle-of-the-pack team, it would have more than one league win. I don't think the Hounds are nearly as bad as Marist, but I don't think they'll avoid the play-in round either.

10. Marist: Records: 1-15 overall, 1-5 MAAC; RPI: 341; Position: Stayed the same

Let's face it: This team would have a hard time finishing in the top three in the NESCAC. They have a few promising young players, but they're all freshmen and none of them -- at least not yet -- are good enough to make a major impact.

Going on any more about how bad the Foxes are would be overstating the obvious, so I'll throw in a few positives:

Andy Alongi, one of the Red Foxes' assistant sports information directors, singlehandedly equipped my computer to get on Marist's amazingly elusive wireless network Monday, installing about 400 programs on my laptop in a span of an hour before the game and helping get through the wall that the evil Marist IT department set up.

And with a pep band and a women's team as good as Marist's, you can afford to have an unwatchable men's team once in a while.