COLUMBIA, Mo. — Dennis Gates‘ Missouri basketball team begins the crucial month of February just outside of the national rankings, but the first-year coach is hardly concerned.

“The only ranking that matters is the one after ‘One Shining Moment’ is played on national television — and it comes out April 4,” he said Tuesday, referring to the rankings released the day after the national champion is crowned at the Final Four in Houston. “That’s the only ranking that we focus on.”

Maybe so, but this time of year, another set of rankings matters, too. As of Tuesday, the Tigers (16-5, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) stood at No. 46 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which since 2019 have been the primary tool the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses to shape the field of 68. The NET rankings measure each team based on its record against quality opponents and takes into account strength of schedule, scoring margin, game location and offensive and defensive efficiency among other factors.

As the Tigers reach the midpoint of SEC play with Wednesday’s home game against LSU (12-9, 1-7), Gates’ team is widely projected to make the NCAA field, but its place on the bracket will hinge on its NET ranking over the next six weeks.

Here’s the good news: Of MU’s remaining 10 regular-season games, only three are against teams ranked higher in the NET: No. 2 Tennessee, No. 31 Auburn and No. 43 Texas A&M.

Starting with Wednesday’s visit from LSU (No. 137), the Tigers have five more games against teams ranked in the NET’s triple digits.

When it comes to the NET rankings, the most valuable commodity is a Quadrant 1 victory. Those are home wins against teams ranked Nos. 1 to 30, neutral-site wins over teams ranked Nos. 1-50 or away games against teams ranked Nos. 1-75. MU is currently 3-5 in Quad 1 games with wins over Iowa State (13), Illinois (26) and Arkansas (28). As of Tuesday, MU was 4-0 in Quad 2 games, 2-0 in Quad 3 games, and 7-0 in Quad 4 games.

“Analytically, I think everyone across the country is trying to still figure out the NET ranking,” Gates said. “I think you’re getting more educated each and every week, but also each and every year that it has been presented. As it relates to the staff, we don’t talk much about it. We focus on what we can control and that’s performances in games. They take hold of all analytical numbers. It’s not just wins or losses. It’s sometimes shooting, sometimes turnover percentage. Sometimes margin of win is more important or even margin of losses. I think we have to continue to dial in to our players and not approach it where (the NET ranking) is part of their thinking. They have to play the game.”

Unlike his last three years as head coach at Cleveland State, Gates has more incentives to closely analyze his team’s NET ranking. Cleveland State plays in the Horizon League, a mid-major conference that typically sends only its tournament champion to the NCAA Tournament, though it has produced a few at-large teams over the last 40-plus years. Most of Mizzou’s first-year transfers also came from mid-major leagues, where at-large NCAA bids are rare: D’Moi Hodge and Tre Gomillion followed Gates from Cleveland State; Noah Carter from Northern Iowa; DeAndre Gholston from Milwaukee; and Isiaih Mosley from Missouri State. Sean East II and Mohamad Diarra both transferred from junior colleges.

As of this week, according to BracketMatrix.com, which uses 81 NCAA Tournament projections to compute every team’s aggregate seeding, Mizzou’s average place on the bracket is a No. 8 seed. Based on all 81 projections, six SEC teams would be part of the field of 68: Alabama and Tennessee as No. 1 seeds, Auburn (No. 7), Missouri (8), Arkansas (9) and Kentucky (11).

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Mizzou as a No. 7 seed playing No. 10 Maryland in Denver. CBS’ Jerry Palm has Mizzou seeded higher than any other projected field, as a No. 5 seed in Albany, New York, against an especially enticing opponent: No. 12 St. Louis University.

The Tigers will have to gobble up February victories and climb out of the 40s in the NET rankings to reach the No. 5 line on the NCAA bracket. Since the NCAA started using the NET rankings in 2019, the lowest-ranked SEC team to make the NCAA field as an at-large was Mizzou in 2021 at No. 46. The highest-ranked SEC team to miss the field using the NET rankings was Texas A&M at No. 36 last year.

What’s it all mean for Wednesday? The Tigers need to win the games they’re expected to win, especially at home, against struggling teams like LSU. Under first-year coach Matt McMahon, LSU has lost eight straight games, four by 18 points or more.

“These are the dog days before the madness,” Gates said. “The madness happens in March, but there’s several things that happen in February that prepares a team (and) puts teams in position to have success. I think it’s important for us to stay in the short term and make sure we just focus on our next opponent.”

That won’t be a problem for Mizzou’s Hodge.

“I personally don’t look at stuff like (projected brackets),” he said Tuesday. “I just live in the moment. I don’t even know what time the next game is.”

That would be 8 p.m.