Frank Martin was hours removed from winning a very pivotal game for his team when he picked up the phone and called his director of operations Andy Assaley.

Like most teams on the bubble, he wanted to know a little more about the NET ranking and how the Gamecocks are looking after a big win and six regular season games to play.

The conversation didn’t last long after Assaley told him the Gamecocks moved up two spots, the same number as Tennessee did.

“You mean to tell me losing has the same value as winning? I just started laughing. I hung up the phone saying I’m so happy living life the way I do,” Martin said. “I’m not consumed with opening some website to see who’s being predicted as climbing on the bubble or who’s being predicted to being choked by the bubble so that website can sell advertisements and make money off my emotions.”

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Martin doesn’t pay attention to the NET, which is one of the biggest metrics the committee uses on Selection Sunday, but as the Gamecocks continue to play well they’ll likely need to as their resume has the potential to build over the next few weeks.

The NET is interesting because it splits wins into four quadrants with Quad I being the best type of win while a Quad IV loss being the worst.

Right now the Gamecocks’ (16-9, 8-4 SEC) resume is an interesting one.

They have three Quad I wins in eight tries and have winning records against every other Quad with only two real blemishes.

That would be the Quad III home loss to Boston in November and a Quad IV loss to Stetson in December, a game Martin scheduled instead of his typical non-Division I game he’s played for a while against schools like Lander, North Greenville and others.

“If we had scheduled a non-D1 instead of scheduling Stetson and winning, our net would be 10 points higher. You tell me who gets hurt by playing that game. Last year everyone said by not playing a non-Division I hurts our resume,” Martin said. “I don’t need a computer to help me schedule. I don’t pretend to be really intelligent but I pretend to have common sense. I know what a good schedule and I know what a bad schedule is.”

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Right now the Gamecocks are 64th in the NET and are in comparable spots in other metrics the committee will look at: 56th in Sagrin, 53rd in KPI, 74th in KenPom and 77th in BPI.

They have a combined seven wins against Quad I and II teams and a strength of schedule at 74th according to ESPN’s calculator.

Martin isn’t a fan of really any of these metrics, saying there needs to be a baseline like the NET but whether a team gets in the tournament should come down to four things: who a team plays, who a team beats, who beats that team and where a team goes to play.

“Then the RPI wasn’t as popular because teams that weren’t real good figured out a way to get their RPI real good. It created problems. There has to be some kind of a base. That’s what the committee does,” Martin said. “It’s who you play, where you play, who you beat and who you lost to.”

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This year they have six road wins with four coming against Quad I or II teams in Virginia, Clemson, Arkansas and Georgia.

Right now the Gamecocks aren’t included in the Field of 68, and that’s not a problem for Martin, with South Carolina having ample opportunity to notch a few big wins late.

They have two chances for Quad I wins this week—Wednesday at Mississippi State and Saturday against LSU—and splitting those still gives the Gamecocks a good win.

As Martin and his team approach this stretch run, they know what’s in front of them and aren’t talking about it.

“I don’t say, ‘You have to win this game because if you don’t win this game we’re not in.’ We have seven games, minimum, left to play. Those decisions will be made. Who cares? Who cares whether we’re in today or not? Who really cares? You think Mississippi State is going to sit there and say, ‘Oh, they put them in! Holy cow, we have a harder game.’ That ain’t going to happen man. They’re going to try and kick our teeth in whether they say were in or out. Who cares? We have to figure out a way to win next week.”