Just over a month after Underwood was hired, he ended up landing the 2017 Illinois Mr. Basketball, Mark Smith. This was a great get for Underwood at the time because of the departure of a few key recruits from the John Groce era. Everything seemed to have been fine thanks to the commitment of Smith.
The 2017-2018 season started, and Smith got the nod for the Illini. He was in the starting rotation, but that didn’t last long. He ended up having his role reduce and was relegated to the bench for Illinois. This was necessary based on where his confidence was and how he was performing on the court.