George Washington @ Florida State preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 4, 2016 ) Florida State 67, George Washington 48

Florida State gets its 2017-18 season underway on Tuesday when George Washington heads to Tallahassee seeking a measure of revenge after the Seminoles easily handled the Colonials 67-48 last year in the BB&T Classic. George Washington opened this season with an 84-75 victory over Howard on Friday night.

Leonard Hamilton's Seminoles enjoyed unprecedented success last season, rolling up the most regular-season victories in school history (26) to earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2012 (they lost in the second round to Xavier) while going 18-0 at home. But Florida State is missing the keys to that success as the top three scorers -- Jonathan Isaac, Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes -- are no longer with the team, taking with them 39.8 points per game, nearly half of the 82.1 the team averaged last year and leaving these Seminoles with just one returning starter -- junior Terance Mann -- to guide an impressive contingent of freshmen, headlined by McDonald's All-American shooting guard M.J. Walker. "Last season, we were a team that took advantage of our talents," Hamilton told reporters. "This year we are going to need to be smarter, execute better and move the ball better." Maurice Joseph and the Colonials are likewise looking for offensive help with the departures of top scorer Tyler Cavanaugh (18.3 points per game) and third-leading scorer Jaren Sina (9.0) from a team that reached the second round of the College Basketball Invitational.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, RSN.

ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON (1-0): Joseph expected to rely on senior guard Yuta Watanabe and he came up big in the opening win over Howard, playing all 40 minutes and posting a team-high 19 points and 11 boards for his second career double-double, while adding a career-high seven blocks. Jair Bolden had a career outing with 17 points, while fellow sophomore Arnaldo Toro came up just shy of a double-double in his 24 minutes with 11 points and eight rebounds. Grad student Bo Ziegler added 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including six dunks.

ABOUT FLORIDA STATE (2016-17: 26-9, 12-6 ACC): With the loss of the top three scorers from a year ago, Hamilton has instituted a faster-paced attack, resulting in the Seminoles scoring 116 and 122 in their two exhibition games. Mann is expected to be the man and bump up last year's averages of 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while junior guard PJ Savoy figures to get more 3-point chances as he hit 40 percent last season (40 of 100). Christ Koumadje, the Seminoles' 7-4 big man, worked on his all-around game during the offseason and Hamilton is counting on him to make his presence felt at the rim.

TIP-INS

1. The Seminoles have won all three meetings with George Washington and Watanabe missed last year's 19-point loss to Florida State.

2. Florida State was picked to finish eighth in the ACC preseason poll.

3. The Seminoles hit just 68.9 percent of their free throws last year.

PREDICTION: Florida State 87, George Washington 70