Good Morning from Baronville

March 7, 2009

Baronville 2009 photo gallery

BARONVILLE, R.I. -- 8:30 a.m.:Good morning from Baronville, the smallest town in the smallest state in the Union.

But around 2 p.m., small will be replaced with loud, as the town of Baronville will combine forces with the rest of Rhody Nation - making the population upwards of 7,657 people.

For the second straight year, University of Rhode Island students took up residence in front of the Thomas M. Ryan Center box office, in order to guarantee their spots in the crowd for Saturday afternoon's regular season finale versus Massachusetts.

Students began lining up outside the Rams' arena around midnight and by 8:30 a.m., Baronville's population reached close to 500.

"Our student body is tremendously important," said Jim Baron head coach and Mayor of Baronville. "To see the kids in tents, sleeping outside on air mattresses and in sleeping bags is a great thing to see pulling into the parking lot this morning."

"There is nothing like a packed house at the Ryan Center, when the student body and all of our fans get it rocking and rolling," Baron added. "To me, it is the best atmosphere in college basketball and we deeply appreciate it."