Conference Awards Thread/Predictions

[Dillon77]

Actual ACC Winners
(Announced Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. EST)

2022-23 All-ACC Women’s Basketball Team
Player of the Year: Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech
Defensive Player of the Year: Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke
Rookie of the Year: Ta’Niya Latson, G, Florida State
Coach of the Year: Niele Ivey, Notre Dame
Sixth Player of the Year: Saniya Rivers, So., G, NC State
Most Improved Player: Makayla Timpson, So., F, Florida State

 

[Dillon77]

2022-23 ACC First-Team Selections

All-ACC First Team
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina

 

[triaddukefan]

The ACC media is on something. Coach of the Year??

Ivey took a team that was preseason Top 10, and finished the regular season in the Top 10. Lawson took a team that was picked 7th in the ACC..... off of the radar in the preseason voting and led them to a Top 12/13 finish in the final regular season poll ND finished one game ahead in the standings, had a MUCH easier conference schedule than Duke. Duke was in the pod with State, Chapel Hill, and VPI. ND shared a pod with Boston College, Pitt, and Syracuse. Duke beat ND in South Bend, and ND went 0-3 vs the Triangle schools.

 

[visitingcock]

Boston vs. Reese:

Bostons point’s, rebounds and blocks came against much better teams and matched her up against much better players such as Brink and Aaliya Edwards. (Average minutes per game need not be mentioned)

BUT

When choosing a conference POY, do you look at all stats/performance or should you look at ONLY at stats/performance against common conference foes?


How about “ valuable to her team.” Reese is extremely valuable to her Team. Boston is only valuable to SCar against the top opponents. She could have sat out over half of SCar’s games and they would have won anyway.

Is Boston in shape for a tournament run?

 

[Ladeeeeda]

The ACC media is on something. Coach of the Year??

Ivey took a team that was preseason Top 10, and finished the regular season in the Top 10. Lawson took a team that was picked 7th in the ACC..... off of the radar in the preseason voting and led them to a Top 12/13 finish in the final regular season poll ND finished one game ahead in the standings, had a MUCH easier conference schedule than Duke. Duke was in the pod with State, Chapel Hill, and VPI. ND shared a pod with Boston College, Pitt, and Syracuse. Duke beat ND in South Bend, and ND went 0-3 vs the Triangle schools.

Also add that Lawson's team finished 2nd in the league with only 1 all conference player......Must have been the fairy dust that made this team successful....lol

 

[triaddukefan]

I normally like and respect his views/tweets, but this is ridiculous. I was 97% convinced he was anti-Lawson and anti-Duke (pro Chapel Hill) after Sunday..... now I'm 100% convinced. What kind of bull droppings is this??

 

[TC22]

Agreed, it should’ve been Reese. That one missed double double against SC shouldn’t have eliminated her from being the POY.

Look, I have no bias toward Angel. She’s a phenomenal talent. But she played against one ranked team all year and against the player who she was trying to beat out for POY. Aliyah DOMINATED her. Angel scored 6 of her points in the last couple of minutes of the game. Aliyah took her on 1 on 1 several times and Angel could only pass the ball out. Games aren’t won on stats. They are won by players. Aliyah has lead her team to an undefeated season, which includes wins over Stanford, UConn, Maryland, UCLA and a 20 pt win over LSU. LSU had 2 first team All SEC players plus the SEC Freshman of the year on their team. SC also had 2 All-SEC playesr. Both teams are talented, but if you think S.C. would be where they are without Aliyah you are wrong.

 

[TC22]

I normally like and respect his views/tweets, but this is ridiculous. I was 97% convinced he was anti-Lawson and anti-Duke (pro Chapel Hill) after Sunday..... now I'm 100% convinced. What kind of bull droppings is this??

He’s the joker who gave Indiana a first place vote last week. He’s a clown.

 

[triaddukefan]

He’s the joker who gave Indiana a first place vote last week. He’s a clown.

I like him... he is no clown... he knows his stuff. He has some questionable takes though.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Look, I have no bias toward Angel. She’s a phenomenal talent. But she played against one ranked team all year and against the player who she was trying to beat out for POY. Aliyah DOMINATED her. Angel scored 6 of her points in the last couple of minutes of the game. Aliyah took her on 1 on 1 several times and Angel could only pass the ball out. Games aren’t won on stats. They are won by players. Aliyah has lead her team to an undefeated season, which includes wins over Stanford, UConn, Maryland, UCLA and a 20 pt win over LSU. LSU had 2 first team All SEC players plus the SEC Freshman of the year on their team. SC also had 2 All-SEC playesr. Both teams are talented, but if you think S.C. would be where they are without Aliyah you are wrong.

For the record, I have zero issues with Boston winning it. She is the best player in the country IMO but doesn't have to carry the load significantly every week as she is surrounded by outstanding talents and a bench just as talented. That is what makes SC almost impossible to beat, they have too many weapons to choose from. There is almost if not no drop off when the bench comes in as the intensity and talent is pretty much the same. LSU is thinner than a sheet of paper and is reliant on select people to run the team through this year so Reese and Morris obviously got significantly more looks as the freshmen (Flaujae and Sa'Myah) were being brought along.

But I thought conference awards were strictly about conference play? OOC shouldn't be a factor for conference awards to me. Now national awards are a different story... That is where kids like Boston should especially thrive and show out and people like Reese (While outstanding.... had a horrific OOC schedule) should go down a notch

 

[GoChips20]

I normally like and respect his views/tweets, but this is ridiculous. I was 97% convinced he was anti-Lawson and anti-Duke (pro Chapel Hill) after Sunday..... now I'm 100% convinced. What kind of bull droppings is this??

If anything VT underachieved in conference play. With their transfer additions and returning core, it seemed title or bust.

It wouldn’t shock me if they win the tournament, but still. Ivey and Lawson outperformed Brooks this year. Also, I love Felisha Legette-Jack, but really?!

 

[TC22]

Boston vs. Reese:

Bostons point’s, rebounds and blocks came against much better teams and matched her up against much better players such as Brink and Aaliya Edwards. (Average minutes per game need not be mentioned)

BUT

When choosing a conference POY, do you look at all stats/performance or should you look at ONLY at stats/performance against common conference foes?


How about “ valuable to her team.” Reese is extremely valuable to her Team. Boston is only valuable to SCar against the top opponents. She could have sat out over half of SCar’s games and they would have won anyway.

Is Boston in shape for a tournament run?

Dang. You think we could have beat Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia x2, MSU, SDSU, without Aliyah? Because those aren’t top teams. Would Reese have had the gaudy stats if her team had played our schedule? Would they only have 1 loss? Did you watch the defensive clinic Aliyah put on Reese when we played them?

is Boston in shape? Why in the world would you ask that? She‘s played 30+ minutes against the latter half of our season which has been the toughest part of our schedule.

 

[TC22]

For the record, I have zero issues with Boston winning it. She is the best player in the country IMO but doesn't have to carry the load significantly every week as she is surrounded by outstanding talents and a bench just as talented. That is what makes SC almost impossible to beat, they have too many weapons to choose from. There is almost if not no drop off when the bench comes in as the intensity and talent is pretty much the same. LSU is thinner than a sheet of paper and is reliant on select people to run the team through this year so Reese and Morris obviously got significantly more looks as the freshmen (Flaujae and Sa'Myah) were being brought along.

But I thought conference awards were strictly about conference play? OOC shouldn't be a factor for conference awards to me. Now national awards are a different story... That is where kids like Boston should especially thrive and show out and people like Reese (While outstanding.... had a horrific OOC schedule) should go down a notch

I understand where you are coming from. We do have a bench and use it. Kim doesn’t have much so doesn’t. It’s not apples to apples here. Aliyah doesn’t have much chance to put up gaudy numbers this year because as soon as the game is in hand Dawn pulls her out. But I’ll say it again - POY shouldn’t be a stat thing. Minutes are different, roles are different, positions are different, teams are different. We didn’t lose a game in the conference. The biggest difference in the close games was Aliyah. When we played LSU in the matchup between Aliyah and Angel, Aliyah shut her down. Time after time Angel got the ball and couldn’t do anything with it. Take Aliyah off our team and we aren’t undefeated. It was close. Had Angel won, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

The coaches also vote on an SEC team. This was the media version. There’s usually some differences on that. IDK that there’s ever been a different POY because usually one separates itself and it’s not even close. Maybe this year is different.

 

[Orangutan]

The ACC media is on something. Coach of the Year??

Ivey took a team that was preseason Top 10, and finished the regular season in the Top 10. Lawson took a team that was picked 7th in the ACC..... off of the radar in the preseason voting and led them to a Top 12/13 finish in the final regular season poll ND finished one game ahead in the standings, had a MUCH easier conference schedule than Duke. Duke was in the pod with State, Chapel Hill, and VPI. ND shared a pod with Boston College, Pitt, and Syracuse. Duke beat ND in South Bend, and ND went 0-3 vs the Triangle schools.

I found Mark Packer's account!

I though Kara would win and would have been fine with that. Obviously delighted for Niele. If nothing else it will be fun to throw this in the face of those Domers who pick apart her coaching.

I guess the argument for Niele is that she won the conference with the preseason projected #4 team in the conference despite losing Dara Mabrey to injury and being without Lauren Ebo for several games. The losses to Duke and NC State both came in that period immediately after the Mabrey injury when Ebo was out.

There's a world where neither of them gets hurt and ND is a 2-loss team that's sitting in the top 5 of the polls.

 

[Orangutan]

I normally like and respect his views/tweets, but this is ridiculous. I was 97% convinced he was anti-Lawson and anti-Duke (pro Chapel Hill) after Sunday..... now I'm 100% convinced. What kind of bull droppings is this??

I was prepared to go off on this guy but he has another tweet saying that Van Lith is overrated and Sonia Citron should have been on all-defense, so I guess he's alright by me.

Sonia doesn't get crazy steal totals so it doesn't show in the box score but she is excellent on defense. She doesn't get enough credit for being a primary scorer while also defending the opponent's best guard each night. For an ND defense that it is quietly pretty darn good.

 

[Dillon77]

The ACC media is on something. Coach of the Year??

Ivey took a team that was preseason Top 10, and finished the regular season in the Top 10. Lawson took a team that was picked 7th in the ACC..... off of the radar in the preseason voting and led them to a Top 12/13 finish in the final regular season poll ND finished one game ahead in the standings, had a MUCH easier conference schedule than Duke. Duke was in the pod with State, Chapel Hill, and VPI. ND shared a pod with Boston College, Pitt, and Syracuse. Duke beat ND in South Bend, and ND went 0-3 vs the Triangle schools.

I can understand -- well, to some degree -- your reaction. Personally, I would've been fine with either winning the award. However, a lot of the voters enjoyed drinking the Kool-Aid because the voting looked like this:

• Niele Ivey, Notre Dame 211
• Kara Lawson, Duke 142
• Kenny Brooks, Virginia Tech 137

So, why? A few points, some of which based on your points, some others.

• I read a piece in Her Hoop Stats that said Duke finished five spots higher in the ACC than the Blue Ribbon panel predicted in the beginning of the year, while ND finished four spots ahead. Well, both over-performed. Maybe many took into account the season-ending injury to Dara Mabrey.
• Lawson has pulled this collection of home growns and transfers and turned them into a defensive juggernaut. Offense, not so much. Yes, the beat ND the first time, but I think a second go-round would be very interesting. ND, btw, is right behind Duke in ACC defense and miles (no pun initially intended ) ahead in offense. That could be noted.
• Don't forget the other team in ND's pod: Louisville, whom ND hadn't beaten in years. That sweep - no matter how close - might've helped Ivey.
• Lastly -- primarily because I need dessert -- is that Coach Ivey coaches Olivia Miles and that's the offensive show to watch if you like downhill offenses. (It's fun!)

Congrats to Celeste Taylor on her Defensive Player of the Year award and First-Team All-ACC designation. Liked her at Long Island Lutheran and like her now.

 

[jdote33]

We will have to wait, but which all conference team is the most talented, or which one would u pick to win in a tournament? I guess the conversation between Jones and Boston got me thinking, which conference has the most individual talent? I probably just pick the team with Aliyah Boston.

ACC	Pac-12	SEC	Big Ten
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech	Haley Jones	Angel Reese	MAKIRA COOK, Illinois
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame	Cameron Brink	Aliyah Boston	Grace Berger, Indiana
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State	Gianna Kneepkens	Angel Baker	MACKENZIE HOLMES, Indiana
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville	Rayah Marshall	Jordan Horston	CAITLIN CLARK, Iowa
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech	Endyia Rogers	Alexis Morris	DIAMOND MILLER, Maryland
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke	Kadi Sissoko	Zia Cooke	Leigha Brown, Michigan
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse	Jaylyn Sherrod	Rickea Jackson	Emily Kiser, Michigan
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina	Charlisse Leger-Walker	Brittany Davis	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame	Charisma Osborne	Diamond Battles	Taylor Mikesell, Ohio State
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina	Alissa Pili	Kamilla Cardoso	MONIKA CZINANO, Iowa

 

[TerpWomenFan]

We will have to wait, but which all conference team is the most talented, or which one would u pick to win in a tournament? I guess the conversation between Jones and Boston got me thinking, which conference has the most individual talent? I probably just pick the team with Aliyah Boston.

ACC	Pac-12	SEC	Big Ten
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech	Haley Jones	Angel Reese	MAKIRA COOK, Illinois
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame	Cameron Brink	Aliyah Boston	Grace Berger, Indiana
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State	Gianna Kneepkens	Angel Baker	MACKENZIE HOLMES, Indiana
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville	Rayah Marshall	Jordan Horston	CAITLIN CLARK, Iowa
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech	Endyia Rogers	Alexis Morris	DIAMOND MILLER, Maryland
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke	Kadi Sissoko	Zia Cooke	Leigha Brown, Michigan
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse	Jaylyn Sherrod	Rickea Jackson	Emily Kiser, Michigan
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina	Charlisse Leger-Walker	Brittany Davis	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame	Charisma Osborne	Diamond Battles	Taylor Mikesell, Ohio State
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina	Alissa Pili	Kamilla Cardoso	MONIKA CZINANO, Iowa

I would pick the SEC team barely.

 

[shiverz45]

We will have to wait, but which all conference team is the most talented, or which one would u pick to win in a tournament? I guess the conversation between Jones and Boston got me thinking, which conference has the most individual talent? I probably just pick the team with Aliyah Boston.

ACC	Pac-12	SEC	Big Ten
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech	Haley Jones	Angel Reese	MAKIRA COOK, Illinois
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame	Cameron Brink	Aliyah Boston	Grace Berger, Indiana
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State	Gianna Kneepkens	Angel Baker	MACKENZIE HOLMES, Indiana
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville	Rayah Marshall	Jordan Horston	CAITLIN CLARK, Iowa
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech	Endyia Rogers	Alexis Morris	DIAMOND MILLER, Maryland
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke	Kadi Sissoko	Zia Cooke	Leigha Brown, Michigan
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse	Jaylyn Sherrod	Rickea Jackson	Emily Kiser, Michigan
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina	Charlisse Leger-Walker	Brittany Davis	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame	Charisma Osborne	Diamond Battles	Taylor Mikesell, Ohio State
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina	Alissa Pili	Kamilla Cardoso	MONIKA CZINANO, Iowa

The SEC has way more size and athleticism. The Big Ten has the shooters. It would be hard for the other conference to deal with Boston, Reese, and Cardoso in the frontcourt. Rickea Jackson would be a matchup nightmare on the wing. I can almost guarantee half of the SEC's roster will be high first round picks. You can't say that about the other conference's roster.

 

[bballnut90]

We will have to wait, but which all conference team is the most talented, or which one would u pick to win in a tournament? I guess the conversation between Jones and Boston got me thinking, which conference has the most individual talent? I probably just pick the team with Aliyah Boston.

ACC	Pac-12	SEC	Big Ten
Elizabeth Kitley, Sr., C, Virginia Tech	Haley Jones	Angel Reese	MAKIRA COOK, Illinois
Olivia Miles, So., G, Notre Dame	Cameron Brink	Aliyah Boston	Grace Berger, Indiana
Ta’Niya Latson, Fr., G, Florida State	Gianna Kneepkens	Angel Baker	MACKENZIE HOLMES, Indiana
Hailey Van Lith, Jr., G, Louisville	Rayah Marshall	Jordan Horston	CAITLIN CLARK, Iowa
Georgia Amoore, Jr., G, Virginia Tech	Endyia Rogers	Alexis Morris	DIAMOND MILLER, Maryland
Celeste Taylor, Sr., G, Duke	Kadi Sissoko	Zia Cooke	Leigha Brown, Michigan
Dyaisha Fair, Sr., G, Syracuse	Jaylyn Sherrod	Rickea Jackson	Emily Kiser, Michigan
Deja Kelly, Jr., G, North Carolina	Charlisse Leger-Walker	Brittany Davis	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
Sonia Citron, So., G, Notre Dame	Charisma Osborne	Diamond Battles	Taylor Mikesell, Ohio State
Alyssa Ustby, Jr., G, North Carolina	Alissa Pili	Kamilla Cardoso	MONIKA CZINANO, Iowa

I'd take Big Ten's. They aren't as athletic or big as SEC but Clark/Miller/Berger/Holmes/Brown is a heck of a lineup offensively. SEC is front court heavy but lacks strong guard play, or players who can put their bigs in scoring position.

 

[triaddukefan]

I can understand -- well, to some degree -- your reaction. Personally, I would've been fine with either winning the award. However, a lot of the voters enjoyed drinking the Kool-Aid because the voting looked like this:

• Niele Ivey, Notre Dame 211
• Kara Lawson, Duke 142
• Kenny Brooks, Virginia Tech 137

So, why? A few points, some of which based on your points, some others.

• I read a piece in Her Hoop Stats that said Duke finished five spots higher in the ACC than the Blue Ribbon panel predicted in the beginning of the year, while ND finished four spots ahead. Well, both over-performed. Maybe many took into account the season-ending injury to Dara Mabrey.
• Lawson has pulled this collection of home growns and transfers and turned them into a defensive juggernaut. Offense, not so much. Yes, the beat ND the first time, but I think a second go-round would be very interesting. ND, btw, is right behind Duke in ACC defense and miles (no pun initially intended ) ahead in offense. That could be noted.
• Don't forget the other team in ND's pod: Louisville, whom ND hadn't beaten in years. That sweep - no matter how close - might've helped Ivey.
• Lastly -- primarily because I need dessert -- is that Coach Ivey coaches Olivia Miles and that's the offensive show to watch if you like downhill offenses. (It's fun!)

Congrats to Celeste Taylor on her Defensive Player of the Year award and First-Team All-ACC designation. Liked her at Long Island Lutheran and like her now.

Put Duke in that Old Big East pod, and the Blue Devils would have finished 1st. I know why they did the pod system like they did, but its really imbalanced... especially this year. The fact that ND had 3 All-ACC performers (2 on 1st team) while Duke just had one in the top 20, really should have given the nod to Lawson. I know this was a Conference award, but Duke had 2 votes in the preseason AP Poll, while ND was preseason #10 with 513 votes. In the preseason ACC... ND was picked 4th.. but got 4 first place votes...so somebody believed in them. Nobody believed in Lawson and Duke.

 

[triaddukefan]

I'd take Big Ten's. They aren't as athletic or big as SEC but Clark/Miller/Berger/Holmes/Brown is a heck of a lineup offensively. SEC is front court heavy but lacks strong guard play, or players who can put their bigs in scoring position.

If it were a brick-laying convention... I'd pick the SEC. The Big 10 has a good balanced roster. The ACC has no balance, and they would finish 4th. I've only heard of 6 of the Pac 12 players, but the players I recognize I would put them #2 .

 

[TC22]

If it were a brick-laying convention... I'd pick the SEC. The Big 10 has a good balanced roster. The ACC has no balance, and they would finish 4th. I've only heard of 6 of the Pac 12 players, but the players I recognize I would put them #2 .

Give me the SEC. If those bricks are flying one of the big girls from the SEC would snag it and bank it in. it’s the SEC way. Seriously, there are guards in the SEC who can fill it up from outside. Lemme tell you, Angel Reese would be licking her fingers at that matchup and to be a part of that team. SEC all day babeeee.

BTW, what a GREAT topic to get us to the conference tournaments. Much better than fighting over awards or mulling over injuries.

 

[Dillon77]

Put Duke in that Old Big East pod, and the Blue Devils would have finished 1st. I know why they did the pod system like they did, but its really imbalanced... especially this year. The fact that ND had 3 All-ACC performers (2 on 1st team) while Duke just had one in the top 20, really should have given the nod to Lawson. I know this was a Conference award, but Duke had 2 votes in the preseason AP Poll, while ND was preseason #10 with 513 votes. In the preseason ACC... ND was picked 4th.. but got 4 first place votes...so somebody believed in them. Nobody believed in Lawson and Duke.

I don't want to drag this out, but my McGraw's Bench colleague BabaGhanouj this morning posted a char on the offensive and defensive prowess of all 15 ACC teams. It gives a pretty clear overview, offers a few insights and also addresses a few of the issues you and I have bandied about. Here's the chart:

Charting the offensive & defensive prowess of 15 ACC teams

ndnation.com

• As you can see, ND, Va. Tech, Duke, North Carolina and Florida State have the highest average rankings, which is pretty darn close to the final regular season standings. Duke finished first in defensive rankings, while Va. Tech was just above ND in offense. The big surprise is that ND came in 2nd in defense. If Kara can next address the offensive portion of the equation...whoa.
• This is not your Muffet ND team that basically dared you to outscore them. Niele has the athletes (Citron, Prosper, Bransford and Westbeld has improved dramatically) to throw at teams on defense, while keeping her up-tempo pace (rebounding + Miles/Citron).
• Now, the chart bears out your points about the "old Big East pod" being much easier than what Duke plays. While Louisville is getting better, and Syracuse is dangerous at times, they're nowhere near the competition Duke played in. That's cyclical, of course: just last year BC was much better and Louisville was a monster. It could morph again.
• I don't know about the argument about a coach making up for lack of superior talent. Isn't it a coach's job to procure talent and the maximize their effectiveness? It's not as if Lawson didn't procure talent: Taylor, Balogun, Brown and Day-Wilson were all major talents coming out of high school and/or from other schools. Lawson got them to play a very effective kind of style.
• Lastly, I think Ivey was somewhat helped (in a perverse way) by losing Dara Mabrey permanently and Lauren Ebo for a few weeks. She had to readjust her attack while playing the thick of the ACC schedule and came out thriving, with Citron making steps on offense.

Two last points:

• I really would've been fine if Kara had won the award, but want to stress Niele didn't just throw the ball out there on the court and watch Miles and Citron have fun. (again, note the defensive improvement).
• If anyone wants to look at the stats/technical side of the game, scan The Bench from time to time for articles/charts/analysis by Baba, Fighting Artichoke (who posts here also) and Cavanaugh82, among others. They keep (my) opinions honest.