Indiana women’s basketball moved quickly to win over Arkansas transfer Phoenix Stotijn.
The Netherlands native entered the transfer portal on March 26, and her phone blew up for the next two days with a lot of interest from programs around the country. The Hoosiers were one of the inquiries that stood out, and the 5-foot-9 guard visited Bloomington just four days after entering the portal.
Stotijn (pronounced stow-tine) had more visits planned after IU, at Michigan State, Arizona State, and Illinois, and she also included Clemson in her final five. But after she left Indiana, she knew what she wanted.
“I went on the visit, absolutely loved it, obviously,” Stotijn told The Daily Hoosier in a phone interview. “I was talking to my family, and I was like, ‘Indiana is like a perfect fit. Why would I go visit other schools if I already found my perfect fit?’ And then I just told coach (Teri Moren), I was like, ‘I’m ready to come to Indiana.'”
The NCAA entered a recruiting dead period from April 3-7, when visits and in-person contact isn’t allowed. Stotijn remained in contact with IU over the phone during that period, and she soon called off those other visits and committed on April 6.
A Dutch basketball background
While plenty of European countries have strong basketball culture, the Netherlands isn’t typically known for hardwood dominance.
Only two current NBA players come from the Netherlands, and there are no Dutch players currently in the WNBA. Stotijn admitted that soccer is the more popular sport in her homeland.
But she and her eight siblings tried a lot of different sports growing up. And many of them, including Phoenix, just liked basketball the most. One of her brothers, who’s three years older, started playing the game, and she wanted to do the same. She started playing at 12 years old, with a boys team — she recalled some of those boys saying “I’m not guarding her!”
Stotijn worked out with her brothers on the court every morning for a year, and that helped her realize her potential.
“It was at 6 a.m. We would start to shoot, we would do some ball-handling. It was just an hour, and then we would go to class straight out of there,” Stotijn said. “I realized everybody was talking about how much talent I have, and I was like, ‘Well, if i do have this much talent, I might as well (take basketball to the next level).'”
Stotijn played with the boys for two years, before moving to a different academy in the Netherlands where she joined a girls team. But that team was primarily filled with girls who were three to five years older that her. She then started playing with professionals in Holland with Triple Threat, joining that club at age 15 until she was 18. In eight games with that pro team, Stotijn averaged 13.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game.
The guard also competed with the Dutch national team at the 2024 Division B FIBA women’s U20 Eurobasket, and helped her squad win gold and get promoted to Division A. Across six games in that tournament, Stotijn averaged 10.2 points, 3.2 assists, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. She called it a great honor to play for the national team, and said facing that competition is good experience.
Representing the Netherlands means a lot to Stotijn, and it’s something she’s mindful of as she plays in the U.S.
“I know a lot of people, like younger girls, look up to me at home,” Stotijn said. “So I just want to be the example for them and try to get the country on the map.”
Stotijn watched plenty of basketball as she got into the game, but that wasn’t always easy living overseas. She typically watched full-game highlights or replays the day after games, rather than staying up into the middle of the night to watch live. Early on, she primarily watched women’s college basketball powerhouses like UConn. But as she got older and started receiving collegiate interest, she started watching a lot of other teams. Her stepfather also coerced her to watch EuroLeague, saying it was good for her to watch that style.
Bumpy ride at Arkansas
Stotijn wound up at Arkansas for her freshman year, simply deciding that program was the best fit for her coming into the college game.
But things didn’t go as planned with the Razorbacks. The team finished 10-22, its worst season in program history, and head coach Mike Neighbors resigned after the campaign ended.
Individually, Stotijn played in 21 games with 12 starts, which all came in SEC play. She averaged 7.2 points, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 rebounds per game while shooting 31.7 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range. But she spent the season playing out of position.
“Throughout the season, I learned how to play the 2, which I never used to play. I used to play the 1 all the time. So I basically learned a whole new position,” Stotijn said. “(That) was a really big switch for me, because I was actually a 1.”
That was part of the reason why Stotijn entered the portal. She’s now more comfortable playing the 2, but she wants to get action at point guard as well.
But even though her time at Arkansas didn’t go how she thought it would, her experience will serve her well coming to IU. Playing in the SEC opened her eyes to how challenging this level of basketball really is.
“The SEC was really physical, very athletic — everybody was athletic. I thought it would be easier, for some reason, but it was not,” Stotijn said. “The Big Ten and the SEC are the best two leagues out there, I think, so I feel like it’s going to be a little bit of the same. So I’m ready for the competition, because I’ve experienced it for one year now.”
Entering a transitioning Indiana
Stotijn is IU’s second portal commit this offseason, joining Alabama transfer and Bedford, Ind. native Chloe Spreen.
The Hoosiers have seen a flurry of outbound transfers, though, with six players entering the portal after this past season. Only two of those six — Sharnecce Currie-Jelks (Murray State) and Yarden Garzon (Maryland) — have committed to new programs. Unless any of those portal entrants return to Indiana, the program is losing nine players from the 2024-25 team, including the three players exhausting their eligibility.
Garzon entered the portal after Stotijn’s visit, but IU was clearly aware of that developing situation. Stotijn said the staff told her what was happening with those transfers before she could even ask the questions.
“They were really honest about it, which I really appreciated because some coaches just try and get it out the way,” Stotijn said. “But they kept talking about it, and they were really honest. It was like, everybody had a different experience and everything. So they just honestly told me what the situation was for everyone. So I knew exactly (what was happening).”
Stotijn also talked to some of those IU players who entered the portal, to get their perspective while feeling everything out about the program. She said none of those outbound transfers said anything bad about Indiana, and none left on bad terms. Stotijn also connected with Lenée Beaumont, who she said was also open about Indiana’s future and helped her feel comfortable.
Even with a relatively barren roster in Bloomington, that situation never concerned Stotijn. She knows these scenarios are becoming more prevalent in modern college athletics, where teams undergo extreme offseason rebuilds.
Stotijn feels good about how she fits into Indiana’s plans for the future. The Hoosiers fit the two biggest things she wanted in a new school when she entered the portal: a chance to play more point guard, and a chance to play for a good team. The latter, along with personal improvement, is what she said would constitute a successful 2025-26 at IU.
“I would say winning,” Stotijn said. “Developing and getting better. And hopefully, being more consistent, myself, because my percentages were not good this year. So hopefully I will be more consistent. And just getting better.”
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