Rewards standings before the tournament games and after them.

Commentary: Rewards matched the final Coaches' poll exactly for the four consecutive teams (#11-#14), but besides this, and 3 of the top 5 being only 'off by one', the ratings it produced after the NCAA tournament concluded was not as accurate as in years past. The seven losses UNC suffered during the year didn't allow Rewards to move them up in the rankings, as the Coaches did (#8 to #1) when they were crowned champions. Rewards moved South Carolina, after they reached the Final Four, up 6 places, and just about all of the teams in Rewards' top 8 had several quality wins against other strong teams, so not much movement occurred there by more than a place or two (up or down). NIT champion TCU was elevated from #71 to #58 in the final Rewards ranking (#38 in the final Coaches' poll), and NIT runnerup, Georgia Tech, also improved by 6 positions (but did not receive any votes in the final poll).