Rewards standings before the tournament games and after them.

Commentary: As can be seen above, the Rewards system did not match the polls very closely this year.NCAA tournament champion Marquette was ranked as the #16 team in the AP poll taken after the season ended, and the Warriors were #14 in the same UPI poll, but with their seven losses, Rewards had them as the team with the 30th best season in 1976-77. Of course, that changed when they won all five NCAA tournament games, and moved up to #16 in the final Rewards ranking. UCLA was ranked #2/#4, but at 23-4, Rewards only had them listed as the #11 team, given the relative weakness of the Pac-8 conference this year, though UCLA did defeat Tennessee and Notre Dame outside their conference. Idaho State moved up to #20 (from #27) after they defeated UCLA in the NCAA second round, and UNC-Charlotte's run to the Final Four elevated them to #14 (from #21). UNLV making the final four boosted them from #8 to #2 in the final Rewards ranking, and NIT Champion St. Bonaventure moved up from #34 to #26.