Bobby Leach

Alliance Consulting: retained Zakee Smith (Cal State-Fullerton) and drafted Eric Davis (Seton Hall), Marques Green (St. Bonaventure), Brent Welton, Danny Hinds (Drexel), Jeff Farmer (La Salle), Jamar Butts (Community College of Philadelphia), Jermaine Robinson (Cleveland State), Brian Bryant (Mansfield), Ty Teasley (Cabrini), Bobby Leach (Neosho County College), Bobby Lynch and Danny Lynch (Franklin & Marshall), Kyle Esterbrook (Cabrini).

From the "City of Brotherly Love" to the vast Midwest to Aggieland, West Philadelphia native Bobby Leach took the long route to becoming Texas A&M's sixth man, a.k.a., "The Key."

Fact: When Leach scores in double digits, the Aggies are 8-0.When he doesn't, the Aggies are 11-9 overall and 0-9 against Big 12 opponents.

So, yeah, Leach is "The Key" even if his own teammates can't always understand him.

"Bob's from Philly.
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Leach goes home each summer, back to West Philly where the cheesesteak is a popular dish.But if that's what he's feasting on, you have to say it works.

Fact: When Leach dishes out four or more assists, the Aggies are 12-1.When he doesn't, the Aggies are 7-8.

It's like he's their glue or something, and yet Wright jokes that the Aggies have to deal with Leach's mentality, this ego thing that gets stuck in the heads of guards from the East Coast.

"They're all cocky.
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"But Bob's been playing well, and he has the attitude that he always knew he could do it."

If Leach has any attitude issues, they aren't attitude problems.

Leach guards Tech playerEagle photo/Butch Ireland

Bobby Leach is the only senior on the Texas A&M men's basketball team.Aggie coach Billy Gillispie says Leach has been invaluable off the bench.
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But when first-year coach Billy Gillispie decided to bring him off the bench in lieu of starting the rawer talent, freshman Dominique Kirk, Leach said it was no big deal.
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So while Kirk has been a steady member of A&M's starting lineup, Leach has proven invaluable as the first Aggie off the bench.
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The pair have been vital, with Leach actually averaging more minutes, more points and more assists than Kirk.
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And Gillispie calls it "critical" having someone like Leach embrace his role off the bench,

While Leach will run out of eligibility at the end of the season, Aggie fans can expect to see another important sixth man emerge in the future.
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Leach has been that.And he's been more.But you have to look between Leach's slow-down, change-of-pace game to find some of it.

See, to the media and most fans, Leach is the quiet player off the court who's so dang efficient on it.But to his teammates, Leach isn't quiet - on or off the court - and in many ways that's where he makes his biggest impression.

"Bob isn't quiet at all," sophomore Acie Law said."Bob's a funny dude.He's very outspoken and outgoing."

And Law says Leach brings more than just jokes with his humor.

"He's just a great person, a caring person.He's a hard worker, and he's just fun to be around," Law said."Hopefully, we can play a few more games and keep Bob around for a little while longer, because we're going to miss him when he's gone."

Leach came to A&M from Neosho Community College in Kansas, where he led his conference with 9.1 assists a game in 2002-03 as a sophomore.Leach posted other big numbers, handling the potential culture shock well as he made the leap from Philadelphia to the Midwest.

"It wasn't really that big of an adjustment," Leach said."I went there because I thought I just wanted to get away from home, just to go out there and get focused.It worked out well for me."

When Leach came to A&M in the fall of 2003, things suddenly stopped working out.The Aggies went 0-16 in Big 12 play, and Leach's numbers were far from impressive.His 3.5 points per game on 38.8 percent shooting did little to boost the reputation of Philly ballplayers.

But this season, Leach, an all-state guard at Bartram High who once scored 71 points against crosstown Strawberry Mansion, picked up his game.He's averaged 8.1 points on 48 percent shooting this season, and at times he's been indispensable, having big games in key victories over Texas, Missouri and Texas Tech.

In December, Leach will graduate with a sports management degree, something he says he promised his mom he would do.Eventually he may go into coaching, and he likely will be a good one.
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Whatever.' It's like it's not really a big deal, but that's Bob."

A&M's Bobby Leach missed the rim on a long-range jumper that was fumbled out of bounds.

One of the Country's best Junior College Point Guards, Philly's own Bobby Leach of Neosho County Community College in Chanute, KS (Bartram 01') has recently committed to Texas A&M of the Big 12 Conference.Leach only led the whole Midwest Region in both Assists (9) and Steals (5) while averaging 18 Points.He has wreaked havoc on the EXTRA tough Jayhawk Conference for the past two seasons and now looks to do so in the Big 12.
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That's great to hear about Leach.