I get the explanation that they have gravity and things are attracted, but why is it in a ring rather than a sphere? why do things from one AXIS get attracted but not from other?
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You will notice that all bodies in space tend to form ring systems rather than spheres or clouds. For instance planets with rings or moons, solar systems with orbital planes of planets, and galaxies with galactic disks.
The truth is that when the system first forms, you do get a disorderly cloud or sphere orbiting the central mass. The thing is, this is an unstable configuration, so as the galaxy, solar system, planet, or black hole ages, it naturally settles into a more stable ring configuration.
The reason for the instability is collisions. If you have bodies orbiting in all orientations, then collisions will happen frequently between bodies in differently oriented orbits. If you have only a single orbital plane, then you can have lots of bodies orbiting in that plane without colliding. So in the early phase when you have the sphere, most of the bodies will collide and either fall into the gravity well, bounce out of orbit completely, or join into a common orbital plane. Eventually only objects in the single orbital plane are left.
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