So what's new with Alabama Basketball?

About a month has passed since Anthony Grant touched down in Tuscaloosa and was introduced as the new head basketball coach of the Crimson Tide.

It has been a busy month for the newest addition to the Alabama family, so here is a quick look back at what has transpired so far.

Of course, with the hiring of Nick Saban, plus the demands Mal Moore has placed on the program, the salary of Anthony Grant was very anticipated to be known publicly.

For those who missed it, Grant will be paid $1.83 million over the next seven years to coach the Crimson Tide. After three years, the contract must be negotiated to talk extensions or renegotiate the deal.

The contract also has incentives similar to Nick Saban's contract, such as for SEC ($25,000) and national ($50,000) coach of the year honors. Grant's base salary from the University also tops the head football coaches by about $20,000.

The salary, already almost double what former coach Mark Gottfried was making, puts Grant fifteenth nationally and fourth in the conference, behind John Calipari, his mentor,Billy Donovan, and Bruce Pearl.

During this month, Grant has been focused on two things: building his staff and recruiting.

Grant finalized his staff this past week after taking much time to pull it together.

He decided to keep Antoine Pettway, former Bama player and assistant to Mark Gottfried, on the bench while adding Dan Hipsher, Grant's college coach, and John Brannen, a former Grant assistant at VCU, to the mix.

The new director of basketball operations, Tony Pujol, was also on Grant's staff at VCU.

On the recruiting front, Grant said from the onset that he wanted to add another point guard to the team, and he had one available scholarship in order to do so.

Many fans in the Birmingham are expected Grant to go after Eric Bledsoe from Parker High School, but the odds on Bledsoe qualifying for college are bleak, with one source saying that he will not make it at all.

Grant looked elsewhere and pulled in his first commitment today, Ben Eblen, a former VCU commit, out of Florida. Eblen now solidifies Alabama's newest class of players for the 2009-10 season. As of this point, Eblen has not signed his letter of intent, but has until May 20th to do so.

Even in this first month, there have already been some parts of the schedule released, including Alabama's inclusion in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, FL from November 26th-29th. The Crimson Tide will join teams such as Marquette, Michigan, Florida State, Xavier and Baylor in the eight-team field.

Alabama also owes a return trip to Georgia Tech after the Yellow Jackets came to Tuscaloosa last year. There is also speculation that a home and home series with VCU is in the works, a former clause in Grant's contract with the Rams.

The final piece to the puzzle, which I must get asked this once a day, is what the new name will be of the student section.

Well, here is where we currently stand: the group still does not have a new name. We have hopes to meet with coach Grant before the end of school or shortly after to discuss names and discover one we can agree on.

If you have any suggestions, let us hear about them so we can throw them into the pile.