needed. Sagarin claims that from that point, the rankings are unbiased. Justification Sagarin's ratings are particularly relevant in the world of American college football and basketball, where, with hundreds of teams in NCAA Division I competition, there is no way a team can play against more than a small fraction of its competitors. Therefore, in determining the participants in championship games and tournaments, it is necessary to distinguish between teams that have compiled impressive win–loss records against strong competition and teams that have defeated weaker opponents. In addition, sports rating systems are generally of great interest to gamblers. Gamblers use Sagarin's ratings as a source of "Power Ratings," traditionally used as a way to determine the spread between two teams. Winval Along with his former MIT classmate Wayne L. Winston, a professor of decision sciences at Indiana University, Sagarin advises the Dallas Mavericks about which lineups to use during games and which free agents to sign using a system called Winval. Winval is modeled after hockey's plus/minus system. References External links Article from The Wall Street Journal about why he believes Indiana should be in the Central Time zone Sagarin Ratings, via USA Today Jeff's Sports Ratings, Jeff Sagarin's personal page Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American statisticians Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Scientists from New Rochelle, New York College football championships Mathematicians from New York (state)