San Francisco, CA -- It is a rare occurrence, in any sport, that a coach that is completely content with the play coming out of his roster of players. Even the best players will be out on the floor as soon as possible trying to remedy the few mistakes that they may have made the night before. To those true athletes, there is always room to improve. 

Academy of Art men's basketball coach Mark Sembrowich is no exception, and in the world of collegiate sports, where there is such fluidity in the roster, the emphasis on constant improvement is accentuated. There are always new freshmen, raw out of high school. There are always transfers, chomping at the bit and ready to prove themselves to their new coaches and teammates. And there are coaches, like Sembrowich, who only want to see their team get better.

ART U is still a fledgling program, seeking to find its identity and establish itself in the city of San Francisco and in the Bay Area as being more than capable of producing news that others usually attribute to bigger programs. The 2011 Academy of Art men's basketball recruiting class is poised to make those headlines this year, and Sembrowich was more than willing to share what he thinks about his newest batch of Urban Knights cagers.

"Overall I think it just helps to continue to raise the talent level," Coach Sembrowich said. "I think the guys that we have coming in are really going to turn out to be good players for us over here."

Some of that talent is homegrown, right here in the Bay Area. Recruits Myles Babitt (Albany HS), Akil Johnson (Berkeley HS), and Aaron Anderson (Riordan HS) all grew up in the San Francisco area. Alex Carmon is another Californian, coming up from prestigious Long Beach Poly HS. Ameer Shamsud-din is from the West Coast (Portland, OR), and transfers in from Cal State Fullerton. Rounding out the recruiting class is an East Coaster, Roget Romain, who hails from New York City. 

Ameer Shamsud-din transferred in with experience at both Cal State Fullerton and North Idaho, and is the only recruit with significant time at the college level. While at North Idaho, he averaged 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per game for the Cardinals. Shamsud-din previously averaged 20.0 points and 6.7 rebounds a game as a senior at Benson Tech High School up in Portland. 

"Ameer brings a strength and maturity that you can only get playing real minutes at the college level," Coach Sembrowich said. "He's going to help on a very young squad. He brings a lot of court maturity and experience to this team."

Aaron Anderson is another local product, spending four years at Riordan High and earning back-to-back Second Team All-WCAL selections. Akil Johnson, a 6'6, 245-pound power forward from Berkeley High, missed his senior season due to injury, but has since received the full go-ahead from the training staff and is currently working hard to get into basketball shape. Babitt, a 5'10 guard, grew up in Richmond and went to Albany High, was more of a scoring guard in his four years for the Cougars.

"There are kids that we've been able to see play here [in the Bay Area] that can really help our program," Coach Sembrowich said. "Those guys had an opportunity to stay and play here and continue their basketball careers. Aaron is a lockdown defender from right here in San Francisco. Akil is a very skilled forward that has good post moves inside but also the ability to step out and shoot. I think Myles has a toughness about him, and will transition well to running the point."

Alex Carmon, a 6'3 guard, hails from Long Beach Poly, the sports powerhouse that produced such stars as DeSean Jackson, Tony Gwynn, and Chase Utley. Carmon is coming off a CIF Championship season for the Jackrabbits and also earned back-to-back All-Moore League selections. Sembrowich plans to have Carmon spend 2011-12 making the transition from playing forward in high school to the off-guard position for the Knights.

"Alex is a tremendous athlete," Coach Sembrowich said. "We're excited to have someone of Carmon's caliber from Long Beach Poly. It's similar to what we have with [Czar] Robotham, coming from the program with outstanding tradition at Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas."

Roget Romain comes out of La Salle Academy and Kennedy High School in New York, which is known for it's ability to turn out quality basketball players. Romain, a 6'3, 205-pound guard, has a lot of size and can play inside and out and has the potential to cause a mismatch as a left-handed ball-handler.

The additions still leave the team very young, with only one senior and two juniors. But the core talent is in its young base, and the leadership that the older players provide will continue to help develop the Urban Knights into the complete package. Shamsud-din brings some much-needed experience at both Fullerton and on the junior college scene, while Carmon and Johnson represent real talent that caught Division I attention before committing to Academy of Art. 

"This group brings a lot of athleticism. It adds length," Coach Sembrowich said. "They'll complement the core that we established last year. We're trying to find athletes, and will continue to keep building our program. As these kids continue to develop, we're going to see that they are going to be very good basketball players, and I think we're just going to get better."