Maya Moore Makes Her Opinion of USC Star JuJu Watkins Extremely Clear

WNBA legend Maya Moore detailed what she has seen from JuJu Watkins thus far.

Feb 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) reacts against the Michigan State Spartans in the first half at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

USC Trojans superstar sophomore JuJu Watkins has become the frontrunner for the NCAA National Player of the Year after her and her team's fantastic run over the past month or so.

While Watkins was in a self-described scoring slump (according to her own standards) earlier on in the 2024-25 season, she has since broken out of that in a big way, including two 30+ point performances in USC's two regular season victories against the UCLA Bruins which earned them the top seed of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

However, what surely matters most to Watkins is winning an NCAA National Championship. And one person who knows what it takes to accomplish that is former UConn Huskies and overall basketball legend Maya Moore, who won two NCAA Championships and four WNBA Championships in her iconic career.

Moore made a March 6 appearance on SportsCenter to talk women's hoops. And at one point, she detailed her opinion of Watkins.

"JuJu, first of all, just her physical body, it looks like she takes really good care of her body to be strong, to be able to move, to be able to do different things on the court. I think that was one of my strengths. There really wasn’t an area of the game that I couldn’t be pretty effective in," Moore said, per an X post from Vanshay Murdock.

"And so she’s got the full package that way, of looking like she cares about defense. Obviously still areas to grow in all categories, but just offensively, she’s a bucket. I enjoyed scoring, just like JuJu does. So if she can continue to try to bring that joy, try to continue to be a leader, the sky is the limit," Moore continued.

"But she’s smooth. She's smooth, as well. Love watching her game. She’s a competitor.”

Maya Moore is a big fan of Juju Watkins 👀 ✌🏽

“Looks like she takes really good care of her body… to be able to do different things on the court. I think that was one of my strengths. There really wasn’t an area of the game that I couldn’t be pretty effective in. And so she’s… pic.twitter.com/C03TJ0aD4h

— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) March 7, 2025

It sounds like Moore will be tuned in while Watkins tries to lead USC to an NCAA National Championship.