The 1998-99 season was Theresa Grentz first in the Big 10 without one of the top players in Illini history, Ashley Berggren.  She suffered a further blow when her top incoming freshman, Cindy Dallas, went down with an ACL in the pre-season.

But Grentz' Rutgers pipeline was still flowing as Susan Blauser became eligible at Illinois and made an immediate impact.  Freshman Allison Curtain stepped into the backcourt and made an immediate impact.  

Blauser, who became one of the top post players in the league, led the team in scoring and finished second in rebounding.  Curtain made her presence known more and more as the season progressed and set Illinois frosh records in scoring and steals.

The Illini were projected to spend the season with five other teams behind Purdue and Penn State and ended up as the leaders of that pack.

Illinois was a team that could be dominating offensively and on the boards. With five players averaging in double figures, they averaged  79 points a game . They finished as the second best rebounding team in the Big 10 and led the league in offensive rebounds.

But Illinois had little depth beyond the five and when one of them had a below par game, the team suffered.  Illinois beat five ranked teams during the season, but lost to Butler, Iowa and Northwestern.

They did not seem to have the mental toughness of Grentz' prior teams. Despite having one of the top individual defenders in the league in Tauja Catchings, the Illini were only an average, at best, defensive team, and this hurt them. When the game was on the line and they needed a defensive stop, they were frequently unable to make it. Five of Illinois' 16 conference games were decided by five points or less. The Illini lost all five.

They were also hurt by the relatively weak senior season of Alicia Sheeler.  While her numbers were decent, her scoring was down and she appeared to be a soft player.

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