I think this merely adds up poll points, so it is based on number of appearances in the poll. I can't recall if Nolan's first year NIT champions ever made the polls, but by the end of the year - and considering that the NCAA tournament was smaller (48), TU was clearly a top 25 team that year.
Some very odd placements - OU is much higher than OSU, which does not make any sense from my perspective.
What is Oklahoma City at #90?
Oklahoma City's last year in D1 was '84-'85. They were in the same conference as ORU, Butler, Xavier & Saint Louis before dropping down to NAIA.
They played TU on a consistent basis until the mid-'70s. Pretty cool that they made the top 90 despite having been out of the NCAA for 30 years.