College basketball portal news, ancient stadiums — the top sports stories of the week

• URI men’s basketball added two new players, Keeyan Itejere and Alex Crawford, while the women’s team saw Katie Ledden and Ayanna Franks enter the transfer portal.
• Rhode Island FC’s new stadium, Centreville Bank Stadium, is set to open on May 3rd and marks a new era for soccer in the state.
• Providence College gained a commitment from Georgia Tech transfer Duncan Powell, a former four-star prospect.
• The Providence Journal announced its All-State winter sports teams, honoring top high school athletes in various disciplines.

Here are some of The Providence Journal’s most-read sports stories for the week of April 20, as supported by your subscriptions.

◘The college transfer portal remained busy with the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team starting and ending the week with a pair of commitments. Decisions had to be made by April 22 to be eligible for next season. URI picked up pledges from a pair of frontcourt players, with Northern Kentucky forward Keeyan Itejere and Fresno State forward Alex Crawford both committing to the Rams. URI women lost one player in the portal, with forward Katie Ledden committing to New Hampshire. Ayanna Franks also entered after spending her first season in the Rams backcourt. Friars guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim entered the transfer portal while pursuing a medical hardship waiver to extend his career into the 2025-26 season. Breezie Williams will leave Bryant after one season and return to her native Ohio for 2025-26. South Kingstown native Cam Rust and Providence native Hassan Washington have pledged to Seton Hall and Northern Illinois, respectively.

◘As Rhode Island prepares to welcome a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium next month, we took a look back at some of the Ocean State’s forums and stadiums of old. After a run to the USL Championship final in 2024, Rhode Island FC is ready to make tidal waves in its sophomore year, particularly with the opening of Centreville Bank Stadium on the banks of the Seekonk River in Pawtucket. RIFC’s first home game is set for May 3. The new stadium is hardly the state’s first big-name facility, however. Whether it was the grimy, smoky Rhode Island Auditorium on North Main Street, or Mark’s Stadium in Tiverton, believed to be the first stadium built specifically for soccer in the United States, the memories and history of these sites were worth revisiting.

◘Providence College picked up a commitment on April 21 from Georgia Tech transfer forward Duncan Powell. He initially pledged to the Hoyas last week before reopening his recruitment and needed just a couple of days to land in Providence. Powell was a four-star prospect from Dallas who claimed his first offer from SMU in February 2018. Arkansas, TCU, Ole Miss, Dayton, Richmond, DePaul, New Mexico, Saint Louis and Murray State followed before Powell committed to North Carolina A&T. He spent two years with the Aggies and one at Sacramento State before joining Georgia Tech for 2024-25.

∎This week, The Providence Journal continued a tradition that goes back more than 80 years — announcing its All-State teams for the winter high school sports season. That began on Monday (April 21) with the Gymnastics first and second teams, followed by Boys and Girls Wrestling, Boys and Girls Hockey, Boys and Girls Swimming and Boys and Girls Indoor Track & Field. The run of All-State teams ends on Monday when The Journal presents the Boys and Girls All-State basketball teams.

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