Cuesta Men's Basketball ended an era with the retirement of Coach Rusty Blair, after 33 years on the sidelines.  Blair led the Cougars to the playoffs for the 19th time under his watch and the 25th time over the program's 60 seasons.  His 578 career victories are the most ever by a coach at Cuesta, in any sport, while his 11 conference titles and 57.2 winning percentage dwarfs the program's previous mark, 40.4%, when he stepped onto the sidelines.  This year his entire starting line-up was recognized by the Western State Conference, with five players earning all- WSC accolades. This year, Blair was assisted by Danijel Mihailovic as the duo worked together to get the Cougars to the post-season.  

2025 all-Western State Conference First Team Center Alessandro Perotti was the focus of the Cougars' offense and a force on the hardwood.  He led the Cougars with 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds, while also dishing out a team-high 3.1 assists per night.  Perotti attracted a lot of attention and used his size and strength to put the Cougars in a winning position.  Perotti was an intimidating physical presence on both offense and defense.  He converted 54% of his shots on offense and on defense he refused to allow an easy basket, which led to team-highs of 2.3 blocked shots and 3.8 foul per contest.  

2025 all-Western State Conference First Team Guard Shinichi Itoh was Cuesta's "Mr. Outside" to Perotti's "Mr. Inside".  Itoh was second on the team with 15.9 points per game and 103 of his 163 field goals came from beyond the arch. He also added 1.8 assist per game on offense and team-high 1.6 steals on defense.

Point Guard Lorenzo Ceffoli (pict) was charged with orchestrating the Cougars' multicultural roster on the court.  Tabbed as the team's floor general on a squad that boasted 15 players from eight different countries.  Luckily, Perotti was also fellow Italian, so he was on the same page as his high-scoring countryman.  Ceffoli orchestrated the Cougars' offense to perfection and found a way to feed his teammates in the right place at the right time.  He plays a team-style of offense, where he is more a distributor than a scorer, but he did match Perotti with a team-high 3.1 assist per contest, while posting 8.3 points of his own.  

Forward Corbin Rossi and Guard Nikolai Stanic rounded out the Cougars' everyday starting line-up and were both accorded all-WSC Honorable Mention.  Rossi, who is listed at 6-1, was the Cougars' undersized forward, but was one of their indispensable players.  He averaged 7.9 points per game; however, his real value was as a dogged defender and a relentless ballhawk.  Rossi's strength and quick feet allowed him to blanket opposing players on defense and landed him among the team's leaders in steals and blocks.  Stanic started 21 of the Cougars 28 games and averaged 4.5 points per game.