'Coach, Don't Worry About a Thing. If You Fall On Your Face and Win Just 25 Games, We'll Still Love You'

The Paul Morrison Room in the Knapp Center was full of reporters and people acting like reporters [pictured above] when first-year Drake basketball coach Mark Phelps talked about his team.

The only person missing was Morrison,the 90-year-old Drake historian who was probably running a 10K somewhere on the campus.

The way I figured, it must have been an official press conference because even Jim Ecker of the Cedar Rapids Gazette [shown in the foreground, wearing the red sweater] was present.

Phelps [shown in the AP photo at the top] is taking over for Keno Davis, whose 2007-2008 Bulldogs had a school-record 28-5 record.

So what are Drake's fans expecting this season?

"One guy told me, 'Coach, we won 28 games last season. Don't worry about a thing. If you fall on your face and win just 25, we'll still love you,'" Phelps joked.

At least I think he was joking. One of the Bulldogs' newcomers is No. 5, Sean Jones, a 6-11, 225-pound freshman from Carson City, Mich., who is shown doing a TV interview in the photo.

Last season's success has brought about record interest from television. Athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb said the Bulldogs will appear five times on ESPNU and once on ESPN2.

"The game on ESPN2 is against Northern Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Knapp Center, starting at 11:05 a.m.," Sandy said.

"On ESPNU, we will play at Iowa State Dec. 9,, Dec. 20 here against Iowa, Jan. 4 at Southern Illinois, Jan. 11 here against Wichita State, and Feb. 15 here against Illinois State." A number of Drake's games will be televised by Mediacom and Fox.