First there’s preseason chatter, media days, scrimmages and exhibition play. Results that will bear little resemblance to the regular season games are scrutinized. Much is written, it feels like, in dry-erase marker.

On Friday night, it’s time to pull out the Sharpies. The 2015-2016 men’s basketball season officially gets underway at 7 p.m. in the Smith Center when the Colonials take on defending Patriot League Champion Lafayette in GW’s regular season opener.

Here’s what to expect from the game:

Case for the Colonials:
GW is more experienced, more talented and playing at home. The Leopards graduated three starters, all 1,000-point scorers, at the end of last year and will rely on just two returning players, starting guards senior Bryce Scott and junior Nick Lindner, who averaged more than five points per game last season. Only Lindner, who averaged 12.5 points and 5.2 assists per game last season, was a double-digit scorer.

The Colonials should also have a chance to recover nicely from a poor performance off the glass in their exhibition game, in which they only matched a Division II school with 36 rebounds. With many more weapons, Lafayette was still outrebounded by opponents last year, particularly on the offensive boards, helping opponents average 73 points per game against the squad.

This could be a chance for redshirt junior forward Tyler Cavanaugh, who had a solid-but-unspectacular exhibition game, to make a big impact in his first true contest back after sitting out his transfer year.

Case for the Leopards:
Lafayette may lack experience in the starting lineup, but the memories returning players do have are of winning their league and making it to the NCAA Tournament. The Leopards are not going to count themselves out in this game.

Lindner is the team’s top weapon, and won’t shy away from a fight. The preseason first-teamer is one of two returning starters, along with Scott, and seems to have a knack for big moments. He bumped his scoring output to 23.7 points per game during the Patriot League Tournament last season, earning the event’s MVP award.

Joe McDonald will take the brunt of the responsibility for containing him, but it will be particularly interesting to see how sophomore Paul Jorgensen and graduate student Alex Mitola deal with a potential matchup against Lindner when McDonald rests or is rotated off the ball.

Lafayette can also match GW in an area many teams can’t this season: size. The Leopards trot out a frontcourt of 6-8 sophomore forward Matt Klinewski and 6-10 senior center Nathaniel Musters, and they also play a 6-5 guard in junior Monty Boykins. None has much experience, but all are big bodies to defend, so one thing to watch will be how much playing time GW’s backup forwards receive.

Bottom line:
This is GW’s game to lose, as the Colonials should look like a well-oiled machine relative to the recreated Leopards lineup, but Lafayette has enough weapons, including good coaching from 21st-year skipper Fran O’Hanlon and leadership from Scott and Lindner, to keep them from running away with it. If GW manages to do that anyway, mark it as a very good sign. In permanent marker.