Commentary: Loyola (of Illinois) was thought of more highly by Rewards than the pollsters, since they only had two losses, so Rewards ranked them as the #2 team. The other three teams in the top four were almost exactly positioned as in the polls, with #1 Kentucky and #3 Texas Western (as UTEP was referred to back then) ranked the same, and Loyola was #5/#6 in the polls and St. Joseph's was #6/#5, but Rewards had St. Joe's as #8. Michigan was #9/#7, but because of their seven losses, Rewards had them as #27; obviously, the voters thought more highly of the Big 10 champion, who did defeat the #10 team in the AP in the NCAAs (which was Western Kentucky, who was #10 according to Rewards as well, but they strangely did not appear in the UPI's top 20) so Michigan's ranking in the polls seems to be validated by that win. Other than the Wolverines, there was reasonable correlation between the top 10 in the polls, and who the Reward system put there.
The NCAA tournament champion team from Texas Western did move up to #1 in the final Rewards ranking, and Western Kentucky, who defeated Loyola in the NCAA opening round, moved up to #5, and Loyola dropped to #4; NIT Champion BYU moved up from #11 to #9 in the final Rewards ranking.
(This page last modified January 06, 2011 .)