The rivalry everyone knows about

To some sports teams, playing a rival is an exciting and fun game, a victory that feels better than any other. In Indiana however, it's even more than that. The Indiana-Purdue rivalry is one of the most heated and talked about in the Big Ten.\nSenior Kristen Bodine knows the history behind the rivalry and wants more than anything to come out on top when the teams play on Saturday, she said.\n"You just hate Purdue in general," Bodine said. "It doesn't matter what sport it is."\nIU women's basketball coach Kathi Bennett said she has always been an IU fan and always knew about the rivalry. She can't imagine anyone around here that wouldn't know about it, but she doesn't think freshman and Florida native Angela Hawkins has it in her blood yet.\n"I'm sure though that the older girls have explained it to her and told her how big of a deal it is around here," Bennett said. "But the great thing about Angie is, she'll go out and play really hard no matter what big game it is."\nThe teams will not only be competing for a win Saturday, but for points for their respective schools in the Titan Series. Indiana won the inaugural run of the series last year, claiming more wins than Purdue in the all-sport competition. Saturday's game will have no effect on the Big Ten standings.\nBut it doesn't matter what it counts for, sophomore Jenny DeMuth said. She remembers defeating Purdue last year in Indianapolis and how awesome it felt, she said.\n"It wasn't necessarily that it was the Big Ten Tournament," DeMuth said. "It was just the fact that we won against Purdue."\nFreshman Brigett Branson grew up in Indiana and said she knows a few of the girls she will be playing against. They are her former teammates from the Indiana All-Star team.\n"It's a big rivalry," Branson said. "But off the court it's a friendship."\nBranson said she is pretty sure the rest of the freshmen, even those from out of state, have grown to understand how big the rivalry is in Indiana when it comes to these two teams pairing up.\nThe rivalry not only exits between players, but coaches as well. Purdue's Coach Kristy Curry said that although they are rivals, she and Bennett have gotten over negative moments in their past and grown closer.\n"I think we try to make sure that when we aren't playing each other, we try and support each other," Curry said. "I think the more time we spend together and the more we see each other the more supportive we are."\nSupport isn't something either team will receive from each other Saturday at the RCA Dome, but the neutral location of the game is supposed to give an equal chance for each team's fans to come out and support them. \nBranson is excited to experience her first Indiana-Purdue game and hopes the Hoosiers come out on top, she said. \n"It's just there," Branson said of the rivalry. "Indiana versus Purdue. There's just tension, even when you say it"