No, actually we had a lot of talent and appropriately high expectations in Year 1 for Underwood (as we did in Groce's final season), and it was a total catastrophe and unambiguous coaching failure.
Then there was a total roster reshuffle, and we started year 2 with a team way too young and inexperienced to meaningfully compete against the brutal non-conference schedule that we have come to know as Underwood's preference.
But over the course of that season those young guys grew up, and it was obvious to see that we were competitive in the Big Ten and had promise for the future. 1-7 start in B1G play, 6-6 finish, beating multiple ranked teams.
Lots more to the story than that, Giorgi was such a huge part of that Year 2 improvement but declined from there, Kofi necessarily changed the way we play, etc, but we won a bunch of Big Ten games that second year showing the patient finally had a pulse.
But Underwood fell on his face and failed his first year here, with a good roster. That's what gives me confidence in him now. Once again we've gotten into a bad cul-de-sac where the group of players and the system has just collapsed. But BU has found his way out of that before, and I am confident he'll do it again.