I’m still confused what NET even does... just the seeding metric they use in their bracketology instead of AP polls? Is it NET + resume comparison (quad 1/2 etc.) + follow bracket rules to determine the final form?
The committee needs a starting point, and NET is designed to do that. They could use the AP poll, Kenpom, or something else, but they came up with NET, which replaced earlier versions of the RPI. It has several components, but in the end, it's just a way to start off discussions. They go through MANY iterations of the so-called "S curve", attempting to refine it with each pass, and getting teams ranked from top to bottom.
Committee members in past seasons have said that once they get a feel for each team's resume, they don't lean on NET/RPI anymore. So in the example of Houston, NET starts them off as the #4, but most likely they're moved down in an early iteration. My understanding is that they spend a large chunk of time resolving certain issues. So they'll spend a lot of time, for example, comparing bubble teams, to try and make sure they get the right teams in the dance.
The point here, is that it's a starting point. Once they get into the details, it's not really used. A lot of computer algorithms have essentially the same problem --in order to compare something iteratively, they have to make a starting assumption.