Today is Day 4 of the extortion trial involving Louisville coach Rick Pitino and Karen Sypher.

Pitino was on the stand for 3 ½ hours yesterday in direct examination and is set to be cross-examined today.

TYLER'S PREPS TO OVERSEAS JOURNEY CONTINUES

Jeremy Tyler is headed to Japan.

Tyler, the talented big man from San Diego who opted to leave high school in the middle of his junior year to sign a pro contract with Maccabi Haifa last year, will play for former NBA and college coach Bob Hill with Tokyo Apache.

"We are extremely excited for Jeremy to join our team in Tokyo," the team said in a statement. "His athleticism and size will be a major presence in our frontcourt this season."

That could be accurate since Tyler is exceptionally gifted as far as natural ability is concerned.

However, Tyler didn't make it through the season in Israel, leaving for personal reasons after struggling in 10 games and averaging just 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 7.6 minutes.

HAWAII'S NEW COACH NEEDS EXPERIENCE

For Gib Arnold, this is the perfect job.

Arnold grew up in Hawaii as a high school star at Punahou School, so he knows the landscape well in terms of what it takes to be successful at one of the most challenging placed in the Division I ranks: The University of Hawaii.

The Rainbows went 10-20 last season, and Arnold returns just one player of note from a year ago – starting guard Hiram Thompson.

The rest of the returnees combined to score just 34 points all season.

Arnold signed four high school players and three out of the junior college ranks – an arena he knows well from his days as the head coach at the College of Southern Idaho.

"I think it's a great job for me," Arnold said. "To win here, you can't do it the normal way. You can't just sit in gyms in Las Vegas. You've got to go international, junior college, find sleepers and also work the West Coast."

"The proximity to talent is further than anywhere in America," he added. "It's difficult to get here, but when you get here, it's Hawaii."

Arnold said his sales pitch is for kids to leave home and come to a major city in Honolulu – a place with no pro sports team.

"We are the team here," Arnold said.

RANDOM NOTES: West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was released from a Las Vegas hospital yesterday after a fall in his hotel room on Friday in which he suffered broken ribs.

To check out Jeff Goodman's Twitter, click here.