I don't think the NET will too friendly to a 9-9 conference performance, as it doesn't seem to reward close losses to good teams.
I think that's true.
additionally for NET: close losses (to anyone) are better than blowout loses because they don't kill your efficiency numbers. additionally, road losses (to anyone) don't hurt as much as home losses. so if you're going to lose, lose close and on the road.
unlike RPI, strength of you opponent only seems to matter in NET if you actually win the game, which makes sense. In other words, beating bad teams won't hurt you and losing to good teams won't help (whereas in RPI the opposite was often true in many instances). that said, NET definitely has issues and is a bit of a black box