Kansas University junior Bryant Nash will miss four weeks of basketball pick-up games because of a broken right thumb.

Nash, a 6-foot-6 forward from Carrollton, Texas, broke the thumb on his shooting hand during Thursday night’s pick-up action at Allen Fieldhouse.

He was defending sophomore guard Aaron Miles when Nash went for the ball and hit his thumb on his own knee.

The break will not require surgery.

Nash will wear a cast while he recovers. It’s likely Nash will miss contact work during the first week of practice, including the Late Night With Roy Williams midnight scrimmage on Friday, Oct. 11, at Allen Fieldhouse.

He will continue doing conditioning drills while his thumb heals.

Nash averaged one point and 0.7 rebounds in 30 games last season. He averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds while hitting 56 percent of his shots for the Big 12 All-Star team that went 6-0 on a tour of Scandinavia. KU opens the preseason on Nov. 4 against the EA Sports All Stars at Allen Fieldhouse.

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Butch in town: Brian Butch, a 6-foot-11, 215-pound high school senior center from Appleton, Wis., arrived Friday for his official KU campus visit. He toured campus Friday, will attend tonight’s KU-Bowling Green football game and head back to Wisconsin on Sunday.

Butch, who has also visited Arizona, North Carolina and Marquette, will complete his college tour on Oct. 4-5 at the University of Wisconsin.

Butch averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds a game last season at Appleton West. He’s an exceptional student with a 3.86 grade point average.

He’s considered a top 10 national prospect by recruiting analysts. Butch’s high school coach, Greg Hartjes, had this to say about Wisconsin’s 2002 Player of the Year in the Madison, Wis., paper:

“This is what I tell our younger players: Brian Butch is where he is and on his way to great things not because he is 6-11, but because he is goal-oriented, has a great work ethic and wants to be a great player.”

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Maryland corrals Strawberry: Darryl Strawberry Jr., a 6-4 guard from Los Angeles, has committed to Maryland. Strawberry previously told Mike Sullivan of rivalshoops.com he was also considering USC, Pepperdine and Kansas. Yes, he’s the son of former baseball great Darryl Strawberry.

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KU is No. 1: Here’s SLAM Magazine’s preseason Top 10: Kansas, Arizona, Duke, Oklahoma, Texas, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Florida, Michigan State and Alabama.