PHOENIX -- UCLA coach Ben Howland has made the phrase "great defense" synonymous with the Bruins.

And Howland, who was the coach at Pitt from 2000-03, helped build the Panthers into one of the better programs in the Big East, and did so with a foundation built on defensive excellence.

So it wouldn't be a stretch to say Howland is one of the best defensive coaches in the country, but he has also seemingly perfected the art of being defensive and yesterday was yet another example of this.

The Bruins (33-3), who are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament's West Region and will play No. 12 seed Western Kentucky (29-6) tonight in a Sweet 16 matchup at U.S. Airways Center, have been the topic of much discussion lately.

They have benefited greatly from some favorable and questionable officiating in the final seconds of some key close games down the stretch -- including a 51-49 escape of an upset bid by Texas A&M in the second round.

"The job of officiating is always difficult and it is always prone to human error," Howland said. "You know they are going to make mistakes throughout the game. And it is interesting that there seems that there has been an idea that there's some kind of conspiracy theory that's helping UCLA with the officials.

"I hope that's true, but I assure you that it is not."

Howland was asked specifically about a controversial non-call at the end of the Texas A&M game.

"I don't think any one call decides a game," he said. "If you go back and watch the entire game, is any one call more important than any other call? I'm really proud of our team, the way they've come back and we're not worried about anything that's said."

Los Angeles is where Hollywood is located and it is a town that is enamored with all of the glitz and glamor of the bright lights and the big city. It is the home of the "showtime" Lakers of the 1980s and a place where many celebrities and entertainment superstars call home.

Contrast that with the Bruins, who are a blue collar, grind-it-out, defensive-type of team, and there is apparently a school of thought that Howland's style of basketball is not going to ultimately be embraced by that community.

Howland was asked to address the issue and true to form quickly became defensive again.

"I think we're second in the league this year, first of all, in scoring offense if you look at the stats in the Pac-10," Howland said.

"And I am very proud of how our team performs and how they compete. At the end of the day, I think people embrace winning more than any aspect of a team and that's truly been the case for UCLA in the last three years.

"We feel really good about the support that we receive from the local community and obviously our students, our fans and alums so I am excited that they feel so good about our program."

This is only the second time that West Virginia and Xavier are meeting each other, but West Virginia coach Bob Huggins is very familiar with the Musketeers as they are the crosstown rival of his former school, Cincinnati. Huggins, however, wasn't feeling very nostalgic about it. "It is a story, I understand that. But it makes no difference who the opponent is because this game is very important -- one team is advancing and one team is going home. It is really not more than that.". ... Huggins, who has been criticized often for the low graduation rates of his former Bearcats, took a shot at some of his more vocal critics. "I understand to make a good story there has got to be white hats and black hats, otherwise we'd have never had a cowboy movie. That's just the way it is," he said. ... Huggins then talked at length about one of his former players, Corie Blunt, who returned to school and recently finished his degree. "He called me and I asked him if he was going to walk and he said yeah," Huggins said. "So I said "all right man, I'll be there with you. [The academic struggles at Cincinnati] are not what people have tried to portray it as."