Spencer Dinwiddie expects to be healthy and wealthy by summers end. Chicago Bulls Shirts . The University of Colorado star point guard announced Thursday hes skipping his senior season and will declare for the NBA draft. Dinwiddie said at a news conference in Boulder, Colo., that despite this years deep pool of talent, "I just dont feel there are that many people in this draft that are better than me." Dinwiddies junior season was cut short when he tore his left ACL Jan. 12 at Washington and needed reconstructive surgery. He said he expects to be back on the court by August. "I think Ive got first-round talent across the board," he said. "Everybody of course is going to doubt my knee. (But, my) being able to go first week in August and being ready for the season, ... youre going to get Spencer Dinwiddie, not Spencer Dinwiddie with a bad knee." A Los Angeles native, Dinwiddie was averaging 14.7 points and nearly four assists when he got hurt. The Buffs were 14-2 with a signature win over Kansas and ranked 15th at the time. They finished 23-12 and lost to Pittsburgh in their NCAA tournament opener. Dinwiddie called it a bittersweet day, saying it was a difficult decision because he loves the program. Had he decided to return next season, the Buffaloes were expected to be a top-10 team nationally. "Weighing the chance to do something special here versus something that is more what I would like to do probably, it was really tough," Dinwiddie said. He said he was swayed last weekend when his doctor in Houston compared his recovery from knee surgery to that of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who returned from a torn ACL to win NFL MVP honours two seasons ago. This is the third time in four years Colorado coach Tad Boyle has lost a star underclassman to the prospect of NBA riches. Alec Burks bolted after his sophomore season in 2011 and was chosen 12th overall by the Utah Jazz and Andre Roberson left last year and was selected 26th overall by Minnesota before being traded to Oklahoma City. "Well, it doesnt make it any easier," Boyle said, but he drops their names on the recruiting trail. "You always have to use everything that happens in a positive light as best you can. Its hard as a coach when you look -- I dont let myself think about it as a coach too often -- but sometimes youre driving down the road and youre like, OK, if we had a healthy Spencer and Andre together this year with the rest of the squad that we got how special it could be. How good could we be with Spencer next year coming back? "Those are questions that kind of float into your mind, but theyve got to get out of your mind quickly. This program, we talk about it with our team a lot, its bigger than any one person, any one coach, any one player." The Buffaloes have four other point guards on their roster for 2014-15: juniors Xavier Talton and Eli Stalzer, sophomore Jaron Hopkins and incoming freshman Dominique Collier, who was named 2014 "Mr. Colorado Basketball" after leading Denver East to the Class 5A state championship. Dinwiddie said the Buffs should still be good next season without him and hes seen Collier play and suggested he, too, has a bright future. Boyle said the way the Buffs bounced back from Dinwiddies injury and subsequent midseason slump to rally and make the NCAA tournament for the third straight season was a testament to the programs strength. "Like Spencer said, weve got good players in this program and were going to continue to recruit good players to this program," Boyle said. "It certainly doesnt make it easier ... but again, we try to build sustained success. At some point everythings going to come together and the stars are going to align and guys are going to be healthy and well hopefully have a couple of NBA players on the floor at the same time playing together at the peak of their careers. "When that happens, we can make the next jump and blow the doors off this place." Bulls Jerseys 2020 . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. Custom Chicago Bulls Jerseys .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. https://www.cheapbulls.com/ .ca. Hi Kerry, Love reading your column and loved watching your analysis on the TSN broadcasts!And were now in Round 2! Bruins! Canadiens! We know all about the great games of the past from the players, the broadcasters and the writers.DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke didnt shoot the ball well nor did it have one of its big runs against Florida State. Rather, the 18th-ranked Blue Devils gave their Hall of Fame coach a milestone win by aggressively crashing the glass, converting on turnovers and cashing in at the free-throw line. Rodney Hood scored 18 points to help Duke beat Florida State 78-56 on Saturday, giving Mike Krzyzewski his 900th victory in his 34th season at the school. Jabari Parker added 14 points for the Blue Devils (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot 31 per cent but nearly doubled the Seminoles on the glass while scoring 29 points off both turnovers and offensive rebounds. Krzyzewski is the all-time leader in career victories in mens Division I with 973. He joins Syracuses Jim Boeheim as the only coaches with at least 900 wins at one program. "Thats a lot of wins," Krzyzewski said. "I thank Duke for keeping me. Ive been blessed with being at one of the greatest schools in the world. Great schools dont necessarily always have great people in command. This school has. ... We have a good thing going here and Ive been blessed to be here for over three decades and take advantage of that." Duke used an 11-0 spurt late in the first half to build a 20-point lead on the Seminoles (13-6, 4-3), who didnt get the margin below double figures again. But Dukes shooting percentage and its 18 field goals were both season-lows. The Blue Devils had a 47-24 rebounding advantage, including 27-7 on the offensive glass. The 27 offensive rebounds were the most for the program since grabbing 28 against North Carolina A&T in December 2002, according to STATS LLC. Parker, who had a career-high 15 rebounds in Wednesdays win against Miami, finished with 14 rebounds, while Hood had nine. Duke also got a boost from reserve big man Marshall Plumlee, who posted career-highs of seven points and seven rebounds -- with each rebound coming on the offensive glass. "Rebounding is something weve really tried to make a focal point these last few weeks," Plumlee said. "Alongside our defence, I feel like its ssomething thats starting to show in recent games so no matter who we play were hoping to come up with the W on the boards and defensive stops. Chicago Bulls Pro Shop. " The Blue Devils scored 29 points off 17 FSU turnovers and made 34 of 43 free throws for the game -- including 20 of 27 after halftime to offset a 6-for-27 shooting performance (22 per cent) in the second half. "I just think they had our number today and did a very good job of playing to their potential," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. "And they did the things I thought would give us the most problems. I dont think we countered it appropriately." Okaro White scored 14 points for Florida State, which shot 50 per cent but saw the rebounding and turnover troubles undermine that. "It will mess with you emotionally," White said. "You got a team shooting so many threes, theres a lot of long rebounds. Youre trying to box out, and your normal tendency is to run to the rim, thinking the ball will fall there. They really killed us on offensive rebounds and turnovers. They were competing." FSU, which won in its last trip here on a last-second three-pointer two years ago, led by one point for about one minute in the first half. But key scorer Aaron Thomas, who was coming off a 20-point effort against Notre Dame, finished with two points on 1-for-7 shooting before fouling out with 5:13 left. Krzyzewski was animated and often unhappy with his team in the early minutes, slamming down a chair during an early timeout and shedding his suit jacket by the 12-minute media timeout. Then, after Duke looked to be in cruise control, the Blue Devils went nearly 7 1/2 minutes without a basket in the second half. FSU got as close as 11 points with 6:51 to play before Quinn Cook ended the drought with a driving basket that made it 71-54 with 3:25 left. Hood was a last-second scratch from the starting lineup. Krzyzewski said Hood was sick, though Hood told reporters he had to change after spilling Gatorade on his uniform. Hood missed his first five shots, but he scored 14 points after halftime. ' ' '