Hoosiers welcome national champion Baylor for opener

To start the season, Big Ten women's basketball teams like No. 10 Michigan State welcomes University of California-Santa Barbara and Western Carolina University. Illinois faces Loyola University Chicago. And Northwestern prepares for Creighton University. \nMeanwhile, the Hoosiers have the privilege of playing defending national champions Baylor to start their season.\nIU will tip off the 2005 regular season against the Lady Bears at 6 p.m. Saturday in Assembly Hall.\n"Baylor is a tough team," senior guard Cyndi Valentin said. "We know it is going to be a tough game, but we're ready for it."\nLast season, the Lady Bears ran away with the national title in Indianapolis, defeating Michigan State, 84-62. Baylor comes to town with a No. 6 ranking in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.\nWhile Saturday will be the regular season opener for IU, Baylor will have already played two games. In last weekend's Tip-Off Classic, the Lady Bears came back from an 18-point second half deficit to defeat No. 8 Georgia, 84-72.\nBaylor will come to IU on short rest as it plays UCLA tonight in Waco, Texas, meaning it will not get into Bloomington until early Saturday morning.\nTired or not, Baylor's powerful offense will test IU's perimeter and post defense.\n"They've got two post players who can flat out score any time they touch the ball," IU coach Sharon Versyp said. "We've got to pack the middle and make them shoot from the outside. If they're going to beat us, it is going to be from the outside."\nThe two players Versyp and the Hoosiers have to worry about are All-American senior forward Sophia Young and redshirt junior Abiola Wabara. Young averaged 18.4 points and 9.3 rebounds last season.\n"Sophia Young is easily one of the top five players in the country," Versyp said. "She's going to score her points. You may limit her one half, but then she'll come alive in the second half."\nLast season, IU traveled to Waco to play Baylor, losing 60-47, but the Hoosiers limited the Lady Bears to just 29 percent shooting from the floor.\nThe Hoosiers believe last year's game will help them this weekend since they know they can hang with the defending national champions.\n"We have more of a focus this year," junior guard Annika Boyd said. "Before we didn't know what to expect, but now we know all the details we need to know."\nWith the whole season ahead of them, the Hoosiers are treating this game like any other, Versyp said. The new coach hopes to earn her first victory at IU and is eager to start her career with the Hoosiers.\n"I'm very excited about this first game, but I won't approach it differently than any other game," Versyp said. "Starting off the season and my career here does have a different flavor, and I want to be extremely competitive when we step out on the floor"