Today's "unhyped, sane stock" is tomorrow's train wreck, as businesses and industries changes, leadership changes, etc.

You can pick a good stock in the short (2-3 year) terms if you know their industry and their business well enough to really believe in their strategy. But it is difficult to have that level of knowledge on a broad enough base to build a stock portfolio out of it. It is better the just let the index funds be your base, and maybe dip your toes in those rare stocks where you do have deep knowledge and confidence.