The band is almost back together.
Alejandro Vasquez and Efrem “Butta” Johnson have both made their intention to return to the UAB basketball team official on social media and the Blazers are easily an AAC front-runner for next season with four of its five starters returning from its most recent NCAA tournament appearance.
Vasquez and Johnson join Yaxel Lendeborg and Christian Coleman for next season while Eric Gaines has yet to reveal his decision.
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Johnson is set for his third season with the Blazers after finishing this past season starting all but nine games. He averaged 11.2 points and 2.3 rebounds and set a career-high of 21 points in UAB’s AAC semifinal victory over South Florida in the AAC tournament.
Vasquez announced his return Wednesday afternoon on social media and is the fourth starter to announce their return to the Blazers. He averaged 11.1 points and 3.4 rebounds this past season for UAB and scored a career-high 29 points against Temple in the AAC tournament title game.
Vasquez began his career at St. Bonaventure before transferring to Salt Lake Community College (Utah), where he was named an NJCAA First-Team All-American and ranked as the sixth-best player in the JUCORecruiting.com Top 100.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ortiz becomes the second UAB player to enter the transfer portal this offseason. He spent two seasons at UNA before transferring to UAB and finished his only season on the Southside averaging 6.6 points on 33 percent shooting from 3-point range.
The Blazers finished the 2023-2024 season with a 23-12 overall record, an AAC tournament championship — in UAB’s first season in the league — and a first-round appearance in the NCAA tournament.