I agree this is, ultimately, the correct approach as it is only Year 2. However, I think all the skepticism is still residual carry over from the Boeheim years.
For years, Boeheim would get a Womack type player and one of two things would happen:
1) the kid would get on campus, develop, and turn into a really good player, or
2) especially as we got into the 2010's, the "under the radar" type of recruit blew up (e.g. Jonny Flynn, MCW) before even getting to campus. It was awesome!
Unfortunately, the last decade or so of the JB era, things gradually deteriorated. We were (at last, I was) still giving JB the benefit of the doubt because of his recruiting/development track record, along with a surprise F4 run and a couple S16s, but the reality turned out being that the recruits he was getting just were not the level of player that we were used to seeing at Syracuse; finishing it off with his last "best ever recruiting class" where only Bell remains.
I think it's hard to just flip a switch and trust Red to do a full 180 from the final JB years. I thought Year 1 of the Red era was a great start, and I am actually really excited for this coming year because we are going to see what Red's eye for talent is with his recruiting class (high school and portal guys) and how the players develop throughout the season. This is HIS team. I think it'll go a long way if they get back to the tournament as a non-bubble team to help people believe he's righting the ship versus it being more of the same.