Selection Sunday 2012 Start Time: Why Fans Must Tune in to Selection Process

The NCAA tournament's field of 68 teams will be announced at 6:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sunday, and printers across the nation will be spitting out brackets for the hours and days thereafter.

College basketball fans must tune in to the selection process if they are at all interested in winning their bracket challenges this March. For those busy souls who will likely be consumed by life until the tournament gets into full swing this Thursday, it is absolutely crucial they take part in this hour of bracket conversation.

Odds are, there's nothing better on television anyway; all the conference championships will have been played and ESPN Films' The Announcement does not air until 9:00 p.m. ET. What better way to spend your missing spring forward hour than a 60-minute lesson on the tourney field?

If one's team is on the bubble, the selection process is that much more important. Not only do we learn something about the handful of teams we previously knew nothing about, but we also enjoy a few minutes of anxiety waiting to see if our favorite squad will be dancing.

CBS' Greg Anthony and Seth Davis routinely do an excellent job of breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of each tourney team and highlighting the most likely matchups down the road as the tourney wears on.

There will also be additional breakdown and bracket talk at 7:00 p.m. ET on truTV with the premier of NCAA Hardcore Brackets. This program will reveal secrets from the selection committee and educate college basketball fans on reasons why certain teams made the field and others did not.

There's plenty reason to watch the selection process unfold on Sunday evening if you are a college basketball fan, of any team. Whether you just enjoy sitting back and watching the madness unfold or projecting how it will play out on your bracket, the bracket show is a critical part of knowing your stuff.