As bar sing-a-longs go, this one was pretty standard.

Brendan Reilly strummed his guitar, scanned over the scattered happenings at Johnny’s Tavern and led the booze-happy crowd into an audience-pleasing bar house jam. But it wasn’t “Sweet Caroline,” or “Friends in Low Places” or any other classic watering hole staple.

No, Reilly, Overland Park junior and band partner Ben Morgan, Lenexa sophomore, played an acoustic version of NCAA tournament anthem, “One Shining Moment.”

“One Shining Moment, you reached deep inside,” Reilly sang, as the crowd echoed the lyrics. “One shining moment, I don’t know the words.”

With one song, Reilly’s worlds collided. By day, Reilly is a Kansas basketball manager. He keeps track of equipment, assists with practice and chases down dirty laundry. By night, he’s an aspiring guitar player who plays every Thursday night at Johnny’s Tavern, 410 N. 2nd St.

“One shining moment,” Reilly sang, as a friend entered the bar, approached the stage and shook Reilly’s hand.

“Everywhere we go, he sees someone he knows, he knows everybody,” Jimmy Carroll, Reilly’s friend of seven years, said. “That’s just Brendan.”

It’s that personality that got Reilly hired as a manager for the men’s basketball team during his freshman year.

The basketball program needed managers to help out during its traditional fall boot camp, and Reilly volunteered.

“I basically just begged them until they hired me,” Reilly said.

Ask Reilly or one of the other dozen or so basketball managers why they want the job of picking up soiled uniforms and filling up water bottles, and you’ll get a similar response, Reilly said.

“I wanted to be a college basketball coach, and if you can’t play at this level, then this is next best thing,” Reilly said, who played high school basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park.

“I thought I knew a lot about basketball, but I had no idea,” Reilly said. “The amount of knowledge I pick up from coach Manning and coach Self, just being around them, it’s unbelievable.”

As part of his managing job, Reilly worked at 37 Kansas basketball games this year, including the Jayhawks’ championship victory. The Jayhawks finished 37-0 with Reilly in attendance. When Reilly missed three Big 12 conference road games, the team went 0-3.

It started in late January, when Reilly didn’t make the trip to Kansas State, and the Jayhawks suffered their first loss. Kansas’ basketball managers rotate the travel to away games, and Reilly wasn’t there again a few weeks later when Kansas lost at Texas.

Reilly started joking with his friends, “Hey, I’m the good luck charm.”

As Kansas prepared to travel to Stillwater to play Oklahoma State, Reilly wasn’t scheduled to make the trip, so he informed Kansas senior Sasha Kaun of his perfect record.

“You guys better win without me,” Reilly said, “Because you’ve yet to do that.”

When the Jayhawks returned to Lawrence after a 61-60 loss to Oklahoma State, Kaun just looked at Reilly.

“You better come everywhere,” he said.

“When Sasha says something like that you listen,” Reilly said.

Back at Johnny’s, Reilly fielded a request for Green Day’s “Time of Your Life,” and lowered his head to the microphone.

Reilly didn’t have much time for guitar in high school because of sports, school and other activities.

He had a guitar. He just didn’t play it much.

But he still told people he could play a chord or two, and when Reilly was on the road with the team last year in Lubbock, Texas, he found himself at a restaurant with a group of managers and an open mic.

Reilly said he probably knew two songs at the time, but at the urging of a few friends, Reilly walked up and performed “Be Like That,” by 3 Doors Down.

One such friend is Ben Morgan. He is Reilly’s Thursday night bandmate and also a member of the local Lawrence band, Lloyd Likes Mike.

“He really loves playing music,” Morgan said. “We have such a fun time playing together. It’s just happy.”

Even though the basketball season is done, Reilly’s job continues. Managers don’t get many breaks, Reilly said.

But Reilly and Morgan, who go by the moniker, “The Runs,” said they would continue playing together.

“We’ve yet to practice.” Reilly said. “We really need to do that.”

Next year Reilly will be back for a fourth season of managing. After all, he has a streak to continue. In fact, according to Reilly, Kansas has won 48 straight games while he’s been present.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Reilly said.

—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina