Rewards standings before the tournament games and after them.

Commentary: The Rewards system was in 100% agreement with both of the polls (AP & UPI) regarding who they all thought were the top five teams at the end of the regular season. Then #2 UCLA avenged its sole defeat of the year by soundly trouncing #1 Houston in the opening round of the Final Four. (Houston also lost to Ohio State - in the consolation game of the NCAA tournament). The Bruins moved ahead of Houston in the final Rewards rankings that were generated after every post season game had been completed. Rewards also correlated fairly well with the "second five" in both polls, and only #10 in the Rewards ranking was a "mystery", with Tennessee having achieved a 20-6 record in the SEC, but the Volunteers did not make the top 20 in the UPI (nor did they garner a spot in the AP's top 10). #4 UNC also made the Final Four this year, so three of the the teams playing there finished in the polls' top four as well.

NIT champion Dayton saw its final Rewards ranking come in at #34, up from #47, and St. Peter's, who won two games in the NIT, also moved up from #17 to #13. Ohio State ended up #24 (they did have 8 losses), slightly up from #30, and they were unranked before the tournament, so their one point victory over #5 Kentucky must have seemed like a mild upset. Davidson, #8 in the AP poll, and #9 in the UPI poll, was #11 before their two NCAA tournaments wins, according to Rewards, which then considered them to be the ninth best team since that system didn't lower their ranking all that much because of their eventual loss in the NCAAs to UNC.