Among the interested observers at the Riverwar high school all-star game at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday was Josh Harrellson. He’s the 6-9 center/forward from St. Charles who played last season at Southwestern Illinois College and has finally gotten a release from the letter of intent he signed with Western Illinois.

Harrellson’s release isn’t yet official — he expects to get through the NCAA clearinghouse on Monday — but when it is, he said he’s looking at Kentucky, SLU, Missouri, Purdue and Indiana. He was going to make his SLU visit on Saturday, but had to push it back because he hadn’t been cleared yet. So he’ll go to Kentucky next weekend, then SLU the week after that. He said he wasn’t sure if he would make any trips after that.

He said he likes SLU because he wants to play close to home, but likes Kentucky because he thinks he can play at the top level. He likes Rick Majerus and he likes Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie. (fixed the typo in his name; betting that happens to him a lot.) “I guarantee you it will come down between those two,” he told me. “I’ll make the decision based on what’s best for me.”

He was impressed by Chaifetz Arena and the potential teammates he was watching on the court.

SLU could use Harrellson because with so many freshmen coming in, anyone with any experience will be valuable, and Harrellson - who averaged 15 points and eight rebounds at SWIC –  is a good talent to boot. He’ll have three years of eligibility left.

 I asked him if SLU had recruited him out of high school. He said Brad Soderberg came to one of his games, but then no more. “I wish he would have come to more,” said Harrellson, who instead went to Western Illinois. It’s apparent from the schools showing interest that he has developed into a significant talent.

I’ll have more on the all-star game later. But it looks as if SLU has a decent shot at getting a pretty talented player.