Robin Smeulders

Robin Smeulders (born 19 June 1987) is a Dutch retired professional basketball player who played nine seasons in the Basketball Bundesliga. He was also a regular member of the Netherlands national team. Smeulders also owns the German and Austrian nationality.

Smeulders played the majority of his career with Baskets Oldenburg, and won the BBL-Pokal in 2015.

Personal life Smeulders is the son of an Austrian mother and Dutch father. He grew up in both Germany and the Netherlands before spending a year abroad from 2003 to 2004 at Ka’ahumanu Hou High School in Maui, Hawai’i, and four years of college at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon.

College career Smeulders played NCAA college basketball at University of Portland under head coach Eric Reveno. As a freshman, Smeulders was ruled ineligible to play in any game due to his history of playing for a German club team, which the NCAA deemed as professional.

Smeulders was a three-year starter at power forward for the Pilots and averaged 12.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, with a career high of 29 points against St. Mary's College in 2010 and 16 rebounds against Santa Clara University in 2008, during his three-year career. He recorded his 1,000th career point in the final regular season game against Lewis & Clark College, being only the 13th to do so in three or less years. Smeulders finished in the top 15 of the West Coast Conference in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (.507). He tied for 20th in Portland career scoring with 1,036 points, 13th in school history in total rebounds with 582, and tied for 11th in Pilots history with 47 blocked shots. In addition, he was selected as part of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 9 Second Team. On 24 May 2012 it was announced that Smeulders would stay through the 2013 season for the optional third year. In 2013 the EWE Baskets Oldenburg extended the contract with the player for two more years. On 11 June 2015 it was announced that Oldenburg had signed another two-year deal with Smeulders.

In June 2016, Smeulders retired due to back problems.

International career In 2010, Smeulders began competing as part of the Senior Dutch National Team after previously playing for the junior teams three times. He has continued to represent the men's team annually, excluding 2014. In 2005, Smeulders was selected for the Under-18 Dutch National Team and played at the 2005 European Championships in Ruzomberok, Slovakia. Smeulders was a member of the Under-20 Dutch National Team in both 2006 and 2007 and participated in the European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, and Warsaw, Poland, respectively.

Trivia Smeulders studied marketing and management and, in May 2010, received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He stands at 6’10” and weighs 233 pounds. Smeulders has earned the nicknames “The Dunking Dutchman” and “The Flying Dutchman.”