When arguing a point — the best this, the greatest that — no doubt you’ve used the persuasive power of numbers to bolster your argument. Opinions fall into three categories: lies, damned lies and statistics. Here are the nation’s best, presented without editorial comment, from a statistics standpoint:

SCORING DEFENSE	RK	SCHOOL	OPP PPG
	1	Rose-Hulman	50.4
	2	Wisconsin-Stout	55.6
	3	Rhode Island Col.	56.0
	4	Adrian	56.2
	5	Penn. State-Behrend	56.4
	6	Centre	57.2
	• Complete list

REBOUND MARGIN	RK	SCHOOL	REB MAR
	1	Calvin	12.6
	2	Washington-St. Louis	12.2
	3	Maine-Farmington	12.0
	4	Farmingdale State	11.7
	5	Augustana (Ill.)	10.9
	6	Illinois Wesleyan	10.2
	• Complete list

BLOCKS PER GAME	RK	PLAYER, SCHOOL	BPG
	1	Jason Norsen, St. John Fisher	3.52
	2	Matt Devine, Westfield State	3.40
	3	Anthonly DiLoreto, Crown (Minn.)	3.38
	4	Matt Gehret, Penn St.-Altoona	3.38
	5	Joe Rine, Franciscan	3.08
	6	Kevin Hargrove, Muhlenberg	2.92
	• Complete list