Around 9:30 on a scintillating June night in Lawrence, Kansas, Mayson Quartlebaum is perusing a barrage of text messages.
The incoming Lawrence High senior--who just turned 17 in May and is flushed into a prominent role as a veteran leader this season--has just capped off another arduous, sweat soaked summer workout.
As Quartlebaum thumbs through his phone, one picture sent via text grabs his attention.
It is from his older brother, Trey Quartlebaum, delivered all the way from the quaint New York City suburb of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Sporting a perma-smile in the photo is Trey, now a guard at Division-1 St. Francis (NY), standing proudly next to newly minted Golden State Warrior Eric Paschall.
While Paschall grew up in this small Westchester County community, where the Quartlebaums spent their early childhood days, the former Villanova star forward's ties to the family go beyond that.
The picture was taken from Paschall's 2019 NBA draft party at Doubledays, a popular local restaurant in the communal downtown Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. area.
"It was just crazy, it was a surreal moment, just to think all of this is really happening is amazing," said Mayson, who was often traipsing the sidelines of Madison Square Garden when his father, Fred, coached at St. John's University. The younger of the Quartlebaums has familiarity with Paschall, who Fred Quartlebaum mentored and coached at his youth camps.
Freddy Quartlebaum, the former Stepinac High star and Fordham guard known simply as "Q" in basketball circles, spent time as an assistant at North Carolina.
Landing the then SJU assistant position enabled him to raise his kids in the same tight-knit, small Dobbs community where Trey and Mason's grandparents still reside.
Paschall thrived at Dobbs Ferry High as a high scoring forward. He wound up transferring to St. Thomas More (CT), plying his high flying, versatile scoring trade under legendary head coach Jere Quinn for his senior year.
"If the photo does anything for me, a picture like that gives me motivation. A lot of it. I remember watching Eric play in high school. I remember seeing him pull off a wild dunk and get called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim in the playoffs in the Westchester County Center. Still, to this day, I don't understand the reason for that call to be made."
The younger Quartlebaum may have some hometown bias as he shakes his head, harkening back on that game-changing technical. He breaks out a laugh while discussing and dissecting the controversial call from the Section 1/NYS post season seven years ago.
Giggle about it though he may, Quartlebaum's game and quick emergence on the Division 1 recruiting market is no laughing matter.
Having grown into a legit 6-feet-6 (now the tallest in the hoops crazed family) and capable of playing and guarding multiple positions at Lawrence High (KS), Quartlebaum poses matchup issues nearly every game.
He's developed a deft and reliable outside shot, harder to guard considering he's a big lefty.
With his scoring role ramped up in importance on the KC RUN GMC AAU program this summer, Quartlebaum incorporated one on on moves and grew with his ability to exploit mismatches in the post. His ability to drag smaller defenders to the rim and overpower them, finishing with contact was notable.
In Houston, playing before a veritable "who's who" of Division-1 coaches, Quartlebaum caught some hard ferocious dunks and displayed that killer instinct that had been hiding within him previously.
Kennesaw State offered Quartlebaum immediately after seeing him. Stetson, looking to alter the perception of an ailing program and simultaneously changing the culture swiftly under Donnie Jones, also appear high on the Class of 2020 prospect.
Jones and former Mount Vernon (NY) star Jon Mitchell (who Fred Quartlebaum recruited thoroughly while at St. John's) have both contacted him.
College of Charleston and SEMO and New Hampshire have recently become involved. Quartlebaum is slated to visit SEMO unofficially this month. New Hampshire has recently inquired, expressing intrigue with Quartlebaum's unique blend of size and multi-dimensional skill set.
"Being able to play like a guard, being able to do a variety of things, it's really helped my game. We have eight seniors this year, and we're a tight knit group, so all of this preparation is for a really special year."
Preparation is vital, results are everything, and excuses are non-existent for Quartlebaum, who spent time talking to Donovan Mitchell (also from the same Westchester County New York area) and Kansas head coach Bill Self to gain some perspective.
Quartlebaum still has vivid recollections of his days in Westchester County, competing and watching with a hawk like gaze as his father ran camps and orchestrated workouts with local high school players.
When the camp concluded , "Q" and his youngest son would launch jumpers and run suicides and challenge each other for hours, until it started to get dark on the outdoor court at Dobbs Ferry High School.
"I always remembered my father telling me there's "no excuses," Quartlebaum said. "It has always been about results with him. I would want to bail out of a workout and he would be like look, 'nobody cares. Nobody cares if you are hurting, the only thing that matters is what you produce. You are going to get this done."
The desire not to quit resonated in Mayson's head, albeit he did give up playing left tackle to focus solely on basketball when entering the ninth grade at Lawrence.
This move proved prophetic, allowing him to surface as a unique threat with his left-handed shooting acumen and catch and stick game that brings bigger forwards and centers out of the paint.
While slated to shoulder the onus of leader, this year will be different all the way around for Quartlebaum as well.
It will be the lone year without his point guard and his brother, Trey Quartlebaum.
"These past two years, Trey has been in a big leadership role being an upperclassmen and being someone who was known," said Mayson, who describes his relationship with his brother as an extremely tight one.
"We played off each other well I would say because he likes to use screens and I like to set screens and play off of them, so it worked out good."
While slated to shoulder the onus of leader, this year will be different all the way around for Quartlebaum as well.
It will be the lone year without his point guard and his brother, Trey Quartlebaum.
"These past two years, Trey has been in a big leadership role being an upperclassmen and being someone who was known," said Mayson, who describes his relationship with his brother as an extremely tight one.
"We played off each other well I would say because he likes to use screens and I like to set screens and play off of them, so it worked out good."