Rewards standings before the tournament games and after them.

Commentary: Rewards matched the top five exactly in both the AP and UPI final regular season polls. UNC and Kansas finished as #1 and #2 both before and after the post season tournaments, and they did play a memorable triple overtime classic in the NCAA championship game. When the season ended, UNC and Kansas were quite close in those Reward ratings since UNC's best wins were only over Wake Forest (19-9) and Duke (13-11). After they defeated Syracuse, Canisius and Michigan State in the NCAAs - as well as #2 Kansas - their undefeated season looked at lot stronger, given wins over such quality opponents. SMU was #4 in the polls before the NCAAs, and unfortunately they opened up right off in the NCAAS against #2 Kansas, with that game also going into overtime. Oklahoma City was only ranked as the #44 team, according to Rewards, but their 2-1 NCAA record shows that the pollsters had a better handle on their talent, especially with their win over #10 St. Louis; the AP had them as the #9 team, and they were tied for 16th in the UPI poll. Michigan State was also underrated by Rewards (#21), but given their Final Four appearance, and triple overtime loss to UNC in the opening round of the Final Four, it certainly seemed like they deserved to be closer to their #11/#7 ranking in the polls, than where Rewards thought they should be both before and after the tournament. Bradley won the NIT, and moved up from #27 to #21, though the UPI had them as the #13 team before the NIT began. (They were "unranked" according to the AP poll.)