Andrew Toole, 30, is the youngest Division I head coach and tonight he leads in-search-of-itself Robert Morris into the Coliseum. Toole was 29 when he was hired in May. His counterpart, WVU’s Bob Huggins, is in his 29th season as a head coach. Quite a contrast.

He took over a talented team vacated by Mike Rice’s coaching move to Rutgers. The Colonials were picked to finish No. 2 in the Northeast Conference.

“What I really think is you have to be yourself,” Huggins said. “I think a lot of young coaches make the mistake of trying to be somebody they’re not. I think you saw that with Coach (Bob) Knight.

“He had all those coaching academies and all those things and everybody would leave and say, ‘By God, I’m going to be like Coach Knight.’ There’s only one Coach Knight. Coach Knight is the only guy who could handle things the way he handled things.”

Toole has had immediate challenges this season. Sophomore Karon Abraham was arrested last month and charged with four alcohol-related offenses, including two for driving under the influence. The 2010 conference rookie of the year, Abraham has been suspended the past four games.

Abraham could be back tonight, but that’s not WVU’s greatest concern. Nor should it be.

Casey Mitchell Version 2.1 had his worst game against Miami and, simply put, has to make shots for WVU to win. Kevin Jones hasn’t been nearly as efficient as he was last year — or the year before — though that was to be expected as he became the focus of the offense and the opponent’s defense. Still, he’s relying on his jumper a lot and isn’t as active on the offensive glass as he needs to be.

WVU is also at a loss for size inside. Deniz Kilicli and Danny Jennings are struggling and Cam Thoroughman and Kevin Noreen are different players. None of them are an outside threat like Wellington Smith who can entice the other team’s center out of the paint so the guards/forwards can get inside. The offense is changing as players who are new to the team or their roles grow and the veterans adjust. It takes time.

Combine that with a certain inability to stop penetration and opponents seem very confident they can drive past the perimeter defense and then get shots without a big body near the rim. That’s not a good deal for the Mountaineers, who do seem to be without an on-court leader with Butler, Ebanks and Smith off in various parts of the world.

“I told our guys in practice the other day,” Huggins said, “that we’ve done the same kind of thing for 30 years (Huggins’ career) and it’s worked pretty good. So, it’s not what we’re doing; it’s got to be the guys doing it. I must not be coaching them good enough.

“When I tell them don’t overrun the ball and they do it three times within 2 feet of the basket, they’re obviously not listening very good. My job is to make them listen.”

Bryant said Big East teams will spread and isolate the Mountaineers “all season” if WVU doesn’t begin guarding the ball better. Miami has very good guards in Bryant’s Big Apple buddies Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant, but Huggins said they were only a primer.

“You know,” Huggins said, “the truth of the matter is we’re going to have to play against a whole bunch of very good guards. Our league is full of very good guards.”

Butler can’t do it anymore for Huggins. Somebody does need to fill that No. 1 role, not the jersey.