Rick man: I was in love

That's romance for ya!

Rick Pitino's equipment manager fell head over heels for an accused extortionist while ferrying her to Cincinnati to abort his boss' love child, the assistant fondly recalled yesterday before a jury in a Louisville courtroom.

Tim Sypher said he and the supposedly knocked-up Karen Wise bonded by the banks of the Ohio River, engaging in a "heart to heart" during the emotional two-hour drive north.

"I told her to go to that special place [and] 'Just close your eyes and think of all the things that make you happy,' " Tim testified at the extortion trial of his now-former wife.

AP

COURT PRESENCE: Tim Sypher (above) enters court yesterday in the case of ex-wife Karen Sypher vs. Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

Pitino had asked him to schedule the procedure and given him $3,000 to cover expenses, Tim testified.

It cost only $700, and Tim gave Karen the remaining dough to keep.

Meanwhile, Tim and Karen fell in love, calling each other "Hoke" and "Daisy" (from the movie "Driving Miss Daisy") -- nicknames that appear on a Christmas card entered into evidence.

"Every time you make reference to her as 'Daisy' and you as 'Hoke,' you are resurrecting memories of the trip to get an abortion," defense lawyer James Earhart noted.

"You might have looked at it that way," said Tim, 49, "but it was just pet names."

Karen, who became Karen Sypher, is accused of threatening to reveal her July 2003 sexcapade with Pitino atop a table in an Italian restaurant in Louisville unless he gave her cars, cash and homes.

Tim testified that he met the woman who would become his wife on Aug. 25, 2003, when Pitino asked Tim for help with "a little problem" -- Karen's alleged pregnancy.

Tim recalled that he "just wanted that day [to be] over."

After the meeting, he phoned clinics in Indiana and Ohio. Four days later, he drove Karen to Cincinnati Women's Services.

"I just figured it was a good thing to do, go out of town," said Tim. "Yeah, [Pitino] said, 'Go out of town.' "

Tim and Karen got married less than a year later. But by 2007, the relationship was on the rocks. On Feb. 26, 2009, anonymous calls began accusing Pitino of rape.

Tim's mood soured yesterday when he was forced to admit under cross-examination that he asked his then-wife to write down demands that he handed over to Pitino on March 6, 2009 -- before Louisville's Big East Conference championship game against West Virginia.