CECIL HURT: Grant slows down, but he’s not stopped

For the first time in almost two months, University of Alabama basketball coach Anthony Grant has had a chance to catch his breath. But just because he isn’t currently sprinting, that doesn’t mean he has stopped running.

“There’s a lot going on right now,” Grant said earlier this week in an interview in his office. “We’ve got to make sure we’ve got everything in place. The last few weeks, we have been recruiting but now we have to try and get prepared for the upcoming summer. I still have to get my family situated here. They are in Richmond (where Grant was the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth) finishing out the school year, but we are also house-hunting and school-hunting here.”

Grant recruited vigorously in his first month at Alabama, even though he was far behind on remaining prospects. He did fill a need by signing a point guard, Ben Eblen of Florida Air Academy. Now, with a full staff in place, he can turn his attention to the November signing period — but he still has to make up ground on the elite prospects for 2010.

There are merits to the NCAA signing period in effect in almost all sports (football is the notable exception) but they do accelerate the process. While there are always some prospects who wait until spring before signing, many of the top programs, like North Carolina, wrap up their classes in November, then spend the entire season working on juniors for the next year.

“Without question, we were behind on this year’s class and, to a certain extent, the class after that,” Grant said. “We are definitely playing catch-up.”

Furthermore, Grant noted, a recent NCAA rule change has made things that much tougher. In the past, coaches could attend certain AAU events in April in order to evaluate prospects. This year, that window was closed, leaving Alabama (and other schools in transition) to try and hang on until July, when the coaches can see prospects.

“Historically, you see top kids making decisions in May, June and July,” Grant said. “But in our case, we are walking into the upcoming recruiting period somewhat blindly.”

Grant is quick to point out that he isn’t complaining about the situation and that, despite the obstacles, Alabama also has some advantages.

“The entire staff has been working hard on the phone,” said Grant, who cannot discuss specific prospects. “We are in good shape with some kids. We’re doing our due diligence on a lot of players.

“Being the state university does give you more options to choose from. That’s one of the differences in being here than you had a VCU. Another difference is that, when you are VCU, you are constantly hit with the question (from recruits) of how long you are going to be there. Recruits were always asking if I was going to take the Alabama job, or this job, or that job. We don’t have to face that now.

“We have been extremely well received by the kids we have talked with. They are excited about the potential here.”

It’s not entirely impossible that Alabama — which does have an available scholarship with Yamene Coleman’s decision to graduate rather than returning to basketball next year — would add one more player before the 2009-10 roster is finalized. However, Grant said that he “doesn’t think” UA will add another signee before the season.

“I would not entirely rule it out but it would have to be a pretty special situation,” Grant said.

On the other hand, Grant will have 12 “new” players in the fall. That’s because his attitude is not to judge the current players by the past. He’s not spent much time watching game tapes of past Crimson Tide action and, other than a brief period of NCAA-legal workouts, he has few preconceived notions about the talent level.

“That’s one thing I have told the guys,” Grant said. “The past is the past. I want to move on to the future.”

And while there is ground to be made up in recruiting, Grant says that he is right on schedule in assuming command of the Alabama program.

“It began in April and it will continue all the way through the first game,” Grant said. “And every phase of it is important.”