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<\/p>\nWhile his coworkers sit in an office or a home office, Aaron Margelofsky often works from his car, a rental car, an airport, or another mode of transportation. And the moment that he clocks out from his day job as a financial analyst \u2013 what he himself calls \u201cboring spreadsheet stuff\u201d \u2013 he transforms into perhaps the nichest of the niche internet micro-celebrities on the college basketball internet.<\/p>\n
But Margelofsky didn\u2019t start this intending to become a social media star, and he still isn\u2019t. At the end of the 2025-26 college basketball season, Margelofsky has but 1,799 followers on Twitter, where he shares most of his journeys. But those who do follow him see Margelofsky in a new place just about every day, watching college basketball in a cool place.<\/p>\n
Entering Margelofsky\u2019s red Toyota Prius is like finding your way into a whole new world. It\u2019s filled to the brim with bags and clothes strewn all over the place, whether old, trustworthy clothes or the many that he picks up on the road. The back seat is flattened and covered with blankets to make a makeshift bed. There\u2019s just enough space on the driver\u2019s side of the car for him to climb in and drive in comfortably, and just enough space on the passenger seat to drop off whatever he had in his hands.<\/p>\n
The 2023 Butler University alumnus rides out from his home in Carmel, Indiana, content to listen to the History Daily podcast or a playlist of songs from the FIFA games as he drives for hours and hours on the highways mostly east of the Mississippi. When he stops, he\u2019ll text his friends, whom he met in high school, college, or whatever odd path his life has taken him since then, to update them on his travels. But even as he falls asleep in the hybrid car he put over 40,000 miles on during the college basketball season alone, he is excited for the next trip.<\/p>\n
In 2025-26, he upped his tally of arenas attended to 109 of the 365. He attended 116 games in over a dozen states, starting the season at 8 a.m. in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and finishing at the national championship in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never felt super lonely on my travels,\u201d Margelofsky told Basket Under Review. \u201cI\u2019ve felt a little bit like, I don\u2019t want to say a loser because this is all something I\u2019m choosing to do, but I don\u2019t ever feel too lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Coleman Crawley\u2019s Twitter header is a picture of a Saint Louis Billikens warm-up shirt from the 2022-23 season. He\u2019s not an SLU fan, and he has no connection to the school. He\u2019s not even the one wearing the shirt. But he was struck by a line on the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe journey is the reward,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n
Before Margelofsky started on his travels, Crawley was the man who left it all on the line for the sport. Unlike Margelofsky, Crawley actually had to quit his job to go on his travels, which he began at the end of December 2022. The Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, native fell in love with basketball through his father, a high school coach, and watching Tulsa teams coached by Bill Self and his dad\u2019s mentor, John Phillips. Seeing those teams come out of the WAC into the NCAA Tournament made him a mid-major lifer.<\/p>\n
He knew he wanted to find a way into the sport, whether through media or coaching, but instead went into the corporate world after college. But he never stopped watching, and that\u2019s when his idea hit him. Crawley saw crowds dwindling after COVID and wanted to do something about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod, if I attended a lot of these games,\u201d Crawley told Basket Under Review. \u201cI feel like I could get good content, good footage of high-level basketball being played. And some of these teams end up being our Cinderellas.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he still had to take the leap of faith and quit his job to execute that mission. And for Crawley, that involved difficult conversations with his wife, his boss, his mentors, and others he respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, am I a complete jackass for this crazy decision?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know how long he\u2019d be able to do it for. He hoped that somebody would hire him to do it full-time, but he decided to run with it independently.<\/p>\n
By it, I mean driving his Honda across the eastern half of the country to all corners to find a way to go to a college basketball game. Every single night. From December 2022 until the end of the 2022-23 season, he put himself in a new place, watching a new game.<\/p>\n
Social media was a big part of his process from the beginning. He\u2019d hoped to be picked up by Barstool or an outlet similar to do this long-term. Crawley said that he regrets making gambling such a big part of his posts early on. He soon learned that the end result \u2013 whether for his wallet or his life \u2013 wouldn\u2019t be the part that he remembered.<\/p>\n
Sure, his social media presence made him a super-niche microfigure that got him in some doors. But he found himself highlighting different things than he expected.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A few weeks in, he made a trip to Fordham, where the Rams \u2013 in the midst of what became the program\u2019s best season in over 30 years \u2013 were hosting Dayton. It was a rare night that year when Fordham got blown out. And while Crawley\u2019s content centered around the games, his memories certainly don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
He saw a group of Rams fans standing the entire game, going nuts, with one of them even wearing a Fordham football helmet. They were rowdy but respectful, and Crawley wanted to let them know he noticed. He told the group that he appreciated their enthusiasm, and they told him that they were already fans of his content.<\/p>\n
The fans invited him over to their house, where they showed Crawley all of their Fordham gear and even let him stay the night.<\/p>\n
He had a similar experience at Columbia a few years later, when he met an older gentleman in his 70s who kept score by hand for Lions games that he\u2019d been going to for decades. He hasn\u2019t seen Columbia make the NCAA Tournament since 1968, but he still keeps showing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like everywhere I went,\u201d Crawley said. \u201cI had a conversation with somebody who clearly cared a lot about their team. That was the favorite part of the journey, just connecting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Especially at the mid-major level, he found a romanticism in it.<\/p>\n
I took off on a journey December 28th to find Cinderella before She was at the Ball. Over 100 games later, the Final Four is now upon us. It\u2019s been the most fun ride of my life, and I can\u2019t wait to tell and show mid major college basketball\u2019s story going forward! Hope you enjoy! pic.twitter.com\/hoZ1dgIYFd<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Coleman Crawley (@SharpshotSelect) March 30, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI saw how much fans care, especially the diehards that have been going for 50 years, and then ultimately, I think the message of mid-major college basketball (is like) a metaphor for life,\u201d Crawley said. \u201cThese teams know that they\u2019re facing inevitable death. Maybe the Final Four is the absolute height of their potential, but they aren\u2019t winning a national championship, even in the best-case scenario. So for them to go to war, every single night, knowing that they\u2019re not going to win it all, I just think it\u2019s a beautiful metaphor for life.\u201d<\/p>\n He snagged that picture of the Saint Louis warmup shirts when the Billikens came up to play against Fordham later in January 2023, and later made it his header.<\/p>\n The godfather of what he calls \u201chigh-volume game travel\u201d is Michael Barker, who goes on the College Football Campus Tour each fall and has been to each and every FBS stadium. He\u2019s not quite a household name, but he has appeared alongside household names, with profiles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and ESPN.<\/p>\n Originally from California, Barker was never much of a traveler. In fact, he said that he started because he\u2019d never been anywhere. Unlike Crawley, social media was not a factor at the start. He didn\u2019t get on social media until he\u2019d already started going to games. An impromptu 2017 trip to Colorado and Colorado State\u2019s campuses on the way to a hotel in Lake Estes, Colorado, as part of a rare trip, made famous by a Stephen King movie, gave him the itch.<\/p>\n At a game between San Diego State and Boise State in San Diego that fall, he met a Disney executive who recommended that he get on Twitter. It wasn\u2019t an immediate hit, but over time, he\u2019s built up a loyal following of nearly 60,000.<\/p>\n Some of those 60,000, like Margelofsky, who called Barker an inspiration, have started their own journeys.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you make something look fun,\u201d Barker told Basket Under Review. \u201cOther people want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Barker is always on the go during college football season. And he\u2019s always running into people who see his content.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll meet a husband and a wife, and they\u2019re there with their kids, and the husband is telling me, \u2018I live vicariously through you,\u2019\u201d Barker said. \u201cI\u2019m a regular person. I think what happens when you do something at a high volume is that people get interested in it, and they become wrapped up in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think it\u2019s awesome,\u201d he continued. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many people I\u2019ve seen their bio on Twitter, and they set it up the same way that I do, talking about the venues they\u2019ve been to. I\u2019ve seen people making flyers that have their schedule for the week. It\u2019s amazing, man. It just shows you the reach that social media can have when you bring something unique and different that people like.\u201d<\/p>\n At the beginning of the 2025 season, Barker traveled to Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost town in the United States. It also happens to have the northernmost high school football stadium in the United States.<\/p>\n Made it to Utqiagvik \u2705 pic.twitter.com\/cd9Mj1EEN3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) August 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Now that he\u2019s been to every FBS stadium and most of the FCS stadiums as well, Barker has to find new ways to satisfy his travel itch to see new places. His planning grows increasingly unhinged each year.<\/p>\n He has to descend more and more into sicko madness in order to, as he puts it, produce a TV show.<\/p>\n \u201cI call what I do a TV show,\u201d Barker said. \u201cYou need to get people interested. You know, there\u2019s certain things that social media reacts to. You\u2019re thinking about U Sports in Canada. I\u2019ve looked at the Japanese college league, there\u2019s a Mexican college league. You want to lean into the sicko stuff. You want to find unique experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n The greatest mark of true college basketball sicko is Itta Bena, Mississippi. Mississippi Valley State University has been dead last in KenPom for three consecutive years. The program hasn\u2019t won more than five games in a season since 2019, and hasn\u2019t won more than 10 since 2012. The Delta Devils don\u2019t draw big crowds in the small town of about 2,000 people, about 2.5 hours from any other Division I school. But this town was nirvana for Margelofsky, and for any sicko who dares make the trip.<\/p>\n As non-conference schedules poured out for the 2025-26 season, one game stood out. On December 16, Mississippi Valley State would play a home, non-conference game against a Division I opponent, taking on Tarleton State.<\/p>\n Margelofsky couldn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis never happens,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen else are they going to do that? I gotta go down to that.\u201d<\/p>\n So he started planning. As he builds his schedule, Margelofsky has benchmarks in mind. He knew that he was going to the Jimmy V Classic in New York City on December 9, which set the guide points. Find a way to get from New York to Itta Bena in a week. But it\u2019s not as simple as a straight shot drive.<\/p>\n He had to be back in Indianapolis for work for a few days \u2013 yes, work. While he works remotely as often as possible, Margelofsky still does need to be in the office a fair amount. It\u2019s why much of his travel early on radiated out from Indianapolis.<\/p>\n Instead of driving back home, he parked at Newark Airport on Wednesday morning, flew back to Indianapolis, worked two days in the office, attended IU Indy against Green Bay on Thursday night, and flew back to Newark on Friday morning.<\/p>\n He picked up his car and began carving his way down the East Coast. He went to UMBC on Friday night, then did doubleheaders the next two days. First, it was Maryland and George Mason, then it was Virginia Tech and Radford. That brought him within seven hours of Alabama A&M on Monday. From Huntsville, it was just under five hours to Itta Bena.<\/p>\n But for a moment, he was worried that he wouldn\u2019t be able to go to the game at all. Tickets weren\u2019t listed on the MVSU website or anywhere that he looked.<\/p>\n \u201cIt turns out, that\u2019s because it\u2019s free,\u201d Margelofsky said.<\/p>\n He estimates that he was one of 50 to 100 people at the game, which saw the Texans dominate MVSU 88-64, dropping the Delta Devils to 0-10 against Division I opponents. But if you\u2019re going to Itta Bena, you\u2019re not expecting to see Mississippi Valley State win. You\u2019re going for the experience.<\/p>\n One week ago I was at Madison Square Garden watching BYU stun Clemson & UConn take down Florida<\/p>\n Today I\u2019m in Itta Bena, Mississippi to see Mississippi Valley State host Tarleton State<\/p>\n Anarchy?<\/p>\n Nope, just college basketball pic.twitter.com\/KPe6Spr74P<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Aaron Margo (@margo19aa) December 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey had a nice little facility,\u201d he said. \u201cYou walk around, check everything out. I was trying to take advantage of being at Mississippi Valley State, just try to show how cool and awesome this is.\u201d<\/p>\n This also brought on a moment of reflection for Margelofsky.<\/p>\n A month earlier, he opened Snapchat and saw a memory from November 2023. It was his first trip to Assembly Hall, just his sixth college basketball venue. He surpassed 100 venues during the 2026-27 season. One trip turned into two, then three, then four, and they never stopped.<\/p>\n What started as a way to find cool things to do at night when his girlfriend was at rehearsals during his first year out of college became a lifestyle unto itself.<\/p>\n He\u2019s become addicted to the college basketball travel. New experiences, new things. But he\u2019s never been shy of an interesting travel day. When studying abroad during college, his friends went to Venice and Spain over spring break, but he had a different idea.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody else is doing kind of big touristy things, what if I go to Liechtenstein?\u201d he said. \u201cI just kind of walked around and checked everything out. It was this dumb, absurd thing, but it was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like that\u2019s always been my kind of thing,\u201d Margelofsky continued. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily do what\u2019s most popular, but just try to find things that are fun for me that nobody else would find fun and do them.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that he had the same feeling in Liechtenstein as he did in Itta Bena.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I value most is the memories, those experiences,\u201d Margelofsky said. \u201cWhen I see that place on a map or when I see Mississippi Valley State on TV, I can be like \u2018hey, remember that time I was there\u2019, and that\u2019s a cool thing for me to always draw back on that absurd thing that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n For some people, it becomes a sustainable way of life. Barker has essentially been trying to out-sicko himself for a decade. Margelofsky actually ventures that he has a strong work-life balance. He still maintains a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, who graduated a year after him, and now lives in New Jersey. She\u2019ll even come along to games with him sometimes when he\u2019s in the area.<\/p>\n And she supports the travel.<\/p>\n \u201cShe likes that I have something that I\u2019m very passionate about,\u201d Margelofsky said.<\/p>\n He says that his travels will eventually slow down, but it\u2019s not in the direct plans. He wants to visit every single Division I arena, and will do it \u201ceven if it takes me decades.\u201d<\/p>\n Crawley, too, wants to hit every venue, but his journey came to a hard stop after about two full years of attending as many games as he could. He and his wife moved to New York during the 2023-24 season, and he started a new job that allowed him to find his way to games all across the northeast on his free time. He thought that would give him an avenue to sustain this lifestyle, but it did the opposite.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just started to get really taxing with going into the office on a daily basis,\u201d Crawley said. \u201cAnd then having every single one of my weekends booked from December all the way through April, when you\u2019re not getting compensated very significantly for going to all of these games.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI started to look at it realistically, and it was\u2026 a little unfair to my wife if I plan on doing this for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n He still goes to a game around New York every once in a while. He\u2019s a fixture in LIU\u2019s Reef doing \u2018Fins Up\u2019 alongside the creators of the movement, but he\u2019s not traveling very far. He still keeps in touch with many of the friends he made along the way and is planning a new way to stay in the college basketball space.<\/p>\n Through his insanity, Margelofsky has met friends who rip on him for not having a job, but he claims that he actually gets good remarks at work thanks to his \u201cdesirable employment traits,\u201d but it\u2019s hardly a secret that he\u2019s not enthusiastic about it. After all, most people aren\u2019t enthusiastic about their jobs. He saves up PTO for his biggest trips, but can usually find a way to work wherever he is.<\/p>\n Ending the road-trip with a win! pic.twitter.com\/uK4IOfBfNU<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n