College Sports

JACKSONVILLE — One thing James Green won't do as Jacksonville State's basketball coach is shy away from strong competition.

The Gamecocks signed a three-year contract for games with UAB on Wednesday and could be playing as many as four games against high-major Division I programs in Green's first season this year.

The UAB games, confirmed by JSU athletic director Jim Fuller on Wednesday, will be played in Birmingham in 2008 and 2010, with the teams meeting at Pete Mathews Coliseum for the first time ever in 2009.

The Gamecocks are also lining up games this season at Iowa State, South Carolina and, if a potential snag can be resolved, Massachusetts.

The South Carolina contract calls for another game in the future. The potential snag in the UMass game pertains to a clause in the original contract that pays the Gamecocks $20,000 on the return game from their 2006 date in Jacksonville.

Green said the Gamecocks weren't prepared to release this season's schedule yet, but he did talk about his scheduling philosophy.

"We're going to play as tough a schedule as we can play," he said. "That will vary from year to year, but we want to be able to sell our schedule to our fans, sell to our recruits.

"And we want to have a balance there that gives our players an opportunity to experience playing against some of the best players."

The revenue for the four games is not immediately known, but is expected to be greater than the Gamecocks have ever generated before.