Since late last week the prosecution's star witness, Thomas "Ziggy" Sicignano, has taken the stand and dished the dirt on Kaplan, his former friend and business associate, and named numerous professional athletes whom he says were provided free prostitutes.

For college basketball, however, the most disconcerting development is the revelations about Sicignano, the point man in the powerful summer basketball program Brooklyn USA, and the way he acquired funding for his usually star-studded team.

Stephon Marbury is one of many players who played for Thomas Sicignano at Brooklyn USA.(AP)

In court testimony, Ziggy, as he is universally known in prep basketball circles, admitted to plying athletes with prostitutes, transporting prostitutes across state lines (from Atlanta to the New York Knicks' playoff training camp in South Carolina) and to bribing police officers. He also said he and Kaplan, a main backer of the program, have associations with the Gambino crime family in New York. Kaplan's attorney says it was Sicignano who ran the prostitution ring out of the club.

Sicignano testified that Kaplan was a major sponsor of Brooklyn USA and Gambino family boss John A. "Junior" Gotti even inquired about providing money for the program.

Brooklyn USA has produced such noted alumni as Stephon Marbury, Jamaal Tinsley, Ed Cota and many others. Sicignano says he has sent over 200 players onto college scholarships. His current team includes high school stars such as Darren Sykes and Sebastian Telfair.

"No question, if you want players in Brooklyn you have to deal with Ziggy," said one Atlantic 10 head coach requesting anonymity for recruiting purposes. "The whole thing is a little scary now. I'm not going to say it is completely unexpected, but it wasn't something you thought went this deep."

How deep it goes is still to be determined. But just the idea of a crime organization providing funding for a summer team is particularly chilling to law enforcement officials and the NCAA. Almost all point-shaving and game-fixing scandals initiate when a crime family has access to impressionable players.

NCAA gambling rep Bill Saum says he hasn't been following the case closely and can't speak specifically of Sicignano. However, any association between young athletes and organized crime concerns the NCAA.

"Athletes should not be involved with any individual with even a remote association with organized crime," Saum said Wednesday. "In general, our young people have a lot of pressure on them and they need good people around them. Kids and their parents need to make evaluations about who they associate with."

In its effort to reform summer basketball, the NCAA has proposed prohibiting its coaches from scouting events and teams that are not sanctioned. To gain sanctioning, an organization would have to disclose all sources of funding. In a case like this, a red flag might be raised.

"Our legislation is oriented to just give us more information about who these summer coaches are and the type of individuals around the young people," said NCAA spokesperson Jane Jankowski. "We are not in a position to discuss this case, but generally that is what the legislation is designed to do."

Nike, which sponsors Brooklyn USA and includes the program in its the grassroots system, did not return requests for comment through its public relations office.

Kaplan, a hoops nut from New York, owns not just the Gold Club, but multiple newsstands in Penn Station, which sits almost directly under Madison Square Garden. Sicignano, a former Gold Club manager, has worked a deal with prosecutors in exchange for testimony.

Sicignano has testified that Kaplan was a major financial backer of his program, paying for numerous trips across the country and donating as much as $23,000 at one time.

"These type of trips are invaluable for getting our kids exposure to college coaches," Sicignano explained.

Making matters even more unsettling is Kaplan's close association with the notorious Gambino crime family and personal friendships with family boss Junior Gotti and alleged family captain Michael DiLeonardo, who also is a defendant in the case.

Sicignano said that Gotti, who is currently in federal prison, even asked Kaplan if he could provide additional funding to Brooklyn USA, although he never did.

"Mr. Gotti liked sports," testified Sicignano. "He was interested in the kids."

Isn't that what they all say?

No rat

Carlton Martin, 37, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for tax evasion, conducting an illegal gambling business and aiding a racketeering enterprise Tuesday in Detroit, but only after he refused a probation-only deal from prosecutors for testifying against his father Eddie Martin.

The elder Martin is under investigation from a federal grand jury for his role in operating gambling rings and an illegal lottery in Detroit-area auto plants. He is also the central figure in a University of Michigan basketball scandal from the early to mid-1990s that continues to drag on.

Eddie Martin had a long history of doting on Detroit high school and Michigan stars, including personal relationships with such Wolverines stars as Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock. Both Traylor and Bullock have admitted receiving "loans" from Martin.

The feds, not to mention the NCAA, hoped Carlton Martin would sing, providing further insight into the scope of his father's gambling ring and relationship with Michigan basketball. Martin has been banned from an association with Michigan and has not been around the program in a few years. Potential NCAA sanctions stemming from this case are still possible.

The king Hoya

For Craig Esherick, proof that he was the right guy to succeed the legendary John Thompson at Georgetown came during his first season. He took the job in early January 1999, when Thompson suddenly retired, and was able to lead the Hoyas to the NIT. The next year he took a young Georgetown team back to the NIT while landing a strong group of recruits.

It was an impressive start under uncertain circumstances. But fans being fans, and Esherick following a Hall of Famer, nothing buys credibility like last year's run to the Sweet 16. Which convinced everyone what Esherick already knew. He's the man for the job.

"Some of that I resent," said Esherick, a former Hoya who spent 19 years as an assistant under Thompson. "I didn't think I needed to take a team to the Sweet 16 to prove I could coach. The job I did my first two years, in my mind, proved I could coach."

But he understands. In college basketball, right or wrong, it is the NCAA Tournament or bust.

"But getting to the postseason my first two years was just as tough in my mind as getting to the Sweet 16 in my third year," he said. "In some ways I understand though. The standards for the program are pretty high. I coach at a school that won a national title, has been to a few Final Fours and had players such as Allen (Iverson), Dikembe (Mutombo), Patrick (Ewing) and Alonzo (Mourning)."

For Esherick, last season's 25-8 record was a lot of fun, the breakthrough campaign when Georgetown became his program. He realizes that now. Although during the season he didn't have much time to enjoy it.

"The single greatest question I answered during the course of the season was 'Are you having fun?'" said Esherick, now 52-33 as head coach. "I didn't want to burst anyone's bubble but during the season if you start enjoying you start losing.

"Now it felt great. I certainly feel a great sense of pride in how the season happened. But I'm also greedy enough to want to have another. And another. And another."

With plenty of talent returning, the Hoyas certainly have that kind of potential. Georgetown's top three leading scorers -- super frosh Michael Sweetney (12.8 points, 7.4 rebounds), guard Kevin Braswell (11.5 ppg) and Demetrius Hunter (11.1 ppg in Big East play) -- are all back. So too is big Wesley Wilson, who showed flashes of serious ability. Esherick is also excited by the development of Courtland Freeman, who sat out most of last year as a redshirt. There is also a good recruiting class en route.

"The only thing is are we going to have a group of guys who have that chemistry we had last year," he said.

But maybe most important, Esherick has done the near impossible. He succeeded a legend and in three short years established that this program is his program. He did it first in his mind. Then proved it in everyone else's.

News and notes

• Reports that troubled recruit Michael Southall, a talented but twice-arrested 6-10 center out of Wisconsin, is headed to Pittsburgh were premature. While Southall was interested in the size-desperate Panthers, Pitt did not and won't offer him a scholarship. In the past year Southall has seen a verbal commitment to Kentucky and a signed national letter of intent with Georgia Tech both fall through when the schools pulled scholarship offers. Unless a school is willing to take a shot on Southall, the top-100 recruit is likely headed to junior college.
• Virginia coach Pete Gillen is happy that his close friend and former Xavier assistant Skip Prosser is in the ACC at Wake Forest. "He's a great coach, he deserves to be in the ACC." He just isn't happy for himself. "He made my life tougher," said Gillen, who has shied away from playing former assistants. "And it is no fun going against friends. I'm hoping we beat him by half a point."
• Not that it was a surprise, and we are not sure why it was even news, but North Carolina forward Julius Peppers officially announced that he would not play basketball for the Tar Heels next season. Guard Ronald Curry is expected to do the same. The two football stars will instead concentrate next winter on preparing for the 2002 NFL Draft Combine. This and other factors leave North Carolina shorthanded for the second season of the Matt Doherty regime where the Tar Heels need to maximize their ability to earn a 28th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid. The good news is that with two top-20 talents from the Class of 2002 (Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton) already verbally committed, UNC might be on the verge of a monster recruiting haul. Doherty is currently concentrating on a dozen top prospects including 6-9 Jason Fraser of Amityville (N.Y.), 6-9 Torin Francis of Tabor Academy in Massachusetts, 6-9 Shavlik Randolph of Raleigh (N.C.) Broughton, 6-8 Sean May of Bloomington (Ind.) and 6-8 Steve Novak of Brown Deer (Wis.).
• Southern Illinois is going to be a team to watch in the Missouri Valley next season. The Salukis, who went 16-14, 10-8 in the league last year, return not just super sophomore guard Kit Williams and his 17 points per game, but welcome big Rolan Roberts, a 6-6, 240-pound post presence who arrives from Virginia Tech with just one year of eligibility remaining. Together they could prove to be one of the best inside-out duos in the league. "Rolan is the man, he could be the best player in the league," said SIU assistant Lynn Mitchem. "We have a chance to go to the big dance this year."
• Throughout college hoops everyone is wondering whether Sicignano, based on his testifying against Kaplan and the Gambino family, is going to have to enter the witness protection program. "I guess we'll know if an AAU team suddenly sprouts up in Montana," said one Big East assistant.

Dining with Dan

Next time you are in Benton Harbor, Mich., or its greater metropolitan region, be sure to stop by Lark and Sons BBQ, a classic roadside smokehouse/take-out joint that makes chicken and ribs they'd be proud of down South.