So I was glancing at the Kansas University women’s basketball schedule a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed a 1 p.m. game on Nov. 18.

Hey, wait a minute. That’s a Tuesday. KU doesn’t play weekday games in the afternoon. Must be a typographical error.

Then I learned the KU women’s game against Iowa was part of an ESPN package featuring 23 consecutive televised hours of college basketball on that day. Moreover, KU-Iowa is the lone women’s game included in that hoops marathon.

OK, that’s a good deal. I can understand the rationale.

So I was glancing at the KU women’s basketball schedule again on Monday morning, and I noticed the Jayhawks’ game against Iowa on Nov. 18 was scheduled for 11 a.m.

Hey, wait a minute. I thought that game would start at 1 p.m. Must be a typo. Still, grizzled journalist that I am, I knew I needed to double-check.

It wouldn’t have surprised me a bit if ESPN had moved the tipoff on a whim. ESPN can do just about whatever it wants, although the worldwide leader has yet to schedule a game at noon on the moon.

In order to clear things up, I called KU women’s coach Bonnie Henrickson and asked for an explanation.

Yes, she told me, the KU-Iowa game will now start at 11 a.m., but not because ESPN arbitrarily changed it. ESPN, it turns out, actually switched the tipoff of a men’s game between Liberty and UNC-Asheville at KU’s request.

Why did KU want to move the game ahead two hours? School-bus logistics.

As you may know, Allen Fieldhouse is not brimful of bodies when the KU women play there, and, goodness knows, a weekday-afternoon game hardly loomed as an attendance windfall. In that regard, the Kansas Athletics Inc. promotions department went after the kids.

Several grade schools were interested in using the game as a field trip for the health and fitness component of their curriculum, but a 1 p.m. game would end at 3 p.m., and there simply wouldn’t be enough school buses available because that’s around the time the city schools let out.

On the flip side, with a conclusion around 1 p.m., the supply of yellow Greyhounds would be quite sufficient.

“We’ll get twice as many elementary school kids this way,” Henrickson said.

By advancing the tipoff a couple of hours, Henrickson also will have to do something unusual. It’s not rare for players to miss a few classes around road trips, but classroom absences because of a home game are hardly the norm.

Looking farther down the line on the KU women’s schedule, I noticed the Jayhawks have one more game that will start at 11 a.m. – Kansas State on Jan. 24, a Saturday.

I’m not sure any sporting event should start before noon, and I suspect KU football coach Mark Mangino would agree. In the first half of those 11:30 a.m. kickoffs the last two Saturdays, Mangino’s players have played sluggishly, particularly on offense.

But perhaps that’s comparing apples to oranges. Maybe Brunch with Bonnie will be different.