Alabama's embarrassing blowout loss to Florida at the beginning of February served as the inflection point that Nate Oats figured it would. The Crimson Tide could have gone in either direction the remainder of the season at 4-4 in the SEC and with seemingly the whole world against them.
Alabama rallied together, and after a 100-75 bludgeoning of Mississippi State on Wednesday night, has won seven straight games to improve to 21-7 overall and 11-4 in SEC play. Alabama stands in second place in the SEC and two games clear of the cut-line for a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
But Alabama has no interest in looking behind them. Only above and in front. And it's clear that there's a Gator in the room that is serving as continued motivation for the Crimson Tide.
Fresh off a strong performance against Mississippi State, where he scored 23 points on 6-of-7 shooting from three, freshman Amari Allen didn't mince words on what has Alabama so motivated.
"We had that embarrassing loss to Florida, you know, we still feel that every single day, it's not like we forget about that," Allen said. "Coach (Oats) reminds us about that loss; it's going to stick with us until we see them again. We knew we had to make a change on defense, and we had to move the ball better on offense, take care of the ball. I feel like we looked in the mirror and noticed we had to make improvements, and that's what we did."
Work remains, but Alabama is clearly motivated to get a second crack at Florida
The best-case scenario is Alabama will get a second shot at Florida this year, but that it takes place in the SEC Tournament Championship. The Gators are almost certainly going to win the regular season title, barring a couple of major upsets in the final three games.
Getting a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament, which Alabama is close to clinching, is vital. Even more vital, however, might be getting the No. 2 or No. 3 seed so as to avoid Florida's half of the bracket and saving a potential rematch for Sunday's final in Nashville.
Todd Golden's Gators have had Nate Oats and Alabama's number the last few seasons. Florida would be favored in a second meeting, perhaps by a decent amount. But it's a matchup that Alabama is clearly dreaming of.
To get there, the Crimson Tide might need to earn revenge over another opponent first. This Saturday in Knoxville, Alabama will look to snap a five-game losing streak to Tennessee, including a loss in Tuscaloosa earlier in SEC play.
Despite seven straight wins, Oats has no fear of his team falling into complacency. There's too much motivation remaining on the schedule ahead for that.