Phoenix ? Kevin Love was telling a story.

UCLA had just beaten the Xavier Musketeers, 76-57, to reach the Final Four, and Love was in the Bruins’ locker room, a West Regional championship cap on his head, a cord of net over his ear and a silly grin on his face.

“I was benched in the Texas game,” Love said.

Wait a minute.

Love was benched?

The best freshman in the country, gifted with a terrific feel for the game, special talent and a work ethic to match, caught the wrath of coach Ben Howland?

“I wasn’t playing defense,” Love said.

Yeah, that’ll do it.

UCLA won’t be the prettiest team in the Final Four. It won’t score a ton of points, run up and down the floor and wow fans with its athleticism.

But when it comes to defense, the Bruins won’t have any peers.

“They’re a great defensive team,” Xavier guard Stanley Burrell said.

Great doesn’t begin to describe the Bruins ‘D.’

UCLA gets in a team’s face and its psyche. The Bruins pester and harass and bludgeon a team until its will and its jump shot are gone.

Xavier shot 36.2 percent from the field Saturday – and that was a gift. The Bruins called off the dogs after taking a 22-point lead with 5:36 left.

One statistic that summed up the game: UCLA had an uncharacteristic 10 turnovers in the first half. Normally, that kind of carelessness gets a team beat. But the Musketeers scored just two points off those turnovers because the Bruins’ defense so completely stifled them.

“Our defense was tremendous, and that’s what was really the difference,” Howland said.

What makes UCLA so special on that end of the floor?

Well, it doesn’t hurt to have great players. But it’s not talent as much as it is temperament. Howland stays on his players until they’re a bunch of mad dogs, and if their passion for defense doesn’t match his, they’ll take a seat on the bench.

“When I first got here, I watched film almost every single day to figure out the defensive assignments,” Love said. “If you don’t play defense, he’ll sit you down.”

Xavier coach Sean Miller was so impressed with UCLA’s defensive performance that, when asked about it in the postgame press conference, he went on and on like a schoolboy describing his first crush.

Here’s the condensed version:

“The thing that amazes me about UCLA’s defense is that they don’t foul,” Miller said. “I mean, they are physical. They blitz and trap every pick-and-roll you set. They trap the low post. They pressure the ball. They have sometimes four players out on the court who are 6-foot-7 or taller, and they don’t foul.”

Miller made it clear, by the way, that he wasn’t criticizing the officials but complimenting the Bruins.

“I’m telling you,” he continued, “if you play as hard as they do and have the size they do and the strategy and that offensive team can’t put fouls on them, it is really, really hard to score.”

Miller isn’t sure if any team in the Final Four can crack UCLA’s defense.

“I would be curious to see if they can put more fouls on UCLA, get to the foul line more themselves,” he said. “To me, that’s the key against playing their defense, because the things that they’re able to do without fouling are against all odds.”

Here’s one number to chew on: UCLA has held 66 opponents to less than 60 points in the Howland era. Its record in those games: 63-3.

So good luck to whoever plays the Bruins next weekend in San Antonio. Bring your hard hats and work boots. And don’t get discouraged if UCLA completely takes you out of your game.

It’s what the Bruins do.

It’s who they are.

And it’s why UCLA will walk off the Alamodome floor with the national championship after the heartbreak of the last two seasons.