Rewards standings before the tournament games and after them.

Commentary: After matching the top 2 correctly before the NCAA, and NIT, tournaments were held, the Rewards ranking system didn't agree so much with how the sportswriter and coaches voted in the polls this year (as opposed to how closely it has matched the polls in previous years).

NCAA tournament champion Connecticut moved up from #20 to #7, and runner-up Kentucky moved up from #37 to #24 in the final Rewards ranking. Louisville, who made the sweet sixteen, improved from #8 to #4, and first round wins moved: SFAustin from #32 to #18; Harvard from #35 to #22; NDakotaSt from #49 to #39; and Mercer (over #3 seeded Duke) from #75 to #59. NIT Champion Minnesota advanced to #50 (from #61), and runnerup SMU improved from #41 to #35.