The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game represented the perfect opportunity to debate the divisive issue of college basketball's "one-and-done" phenomenon.
Monday night, it was Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) who brought it up.
In a series of posts to her official Twitter account, the Missouri senator said she was rooting for the Wisconsin Badgers because their players were "actually going to college & not just doing semester tryout for NBA."
Wisconsin's starting five and primary bench players in the NCAA Tournament were mostly juniors and seniors with a couple sophomores. Duke, on the other hand, won the national title thanks to contributions from at least four freshmen and one senior.
The NBA only requires its prospective players to spend one year removed from high school to enter their amateur draft. The best route for many of the nation's top prospects is to try and gain a scholarship from a prominent university, play one season and head to the NBA.
Thus the "one-and-done" phenomenon: talented young basketball players with little interest in earning a degree and their primary focus on building an NBA resume. But unlike the vast majority of their classmates, NCAA student-athletes cannot profit off their name, image and likeness while under scholarship.
McCaskill fielded her fair share of blowback for her comments; chiefly among them was one user arguing Duke's players were simply doing what was best for their careers. McCaskill took the opportunity to clarify her criticism is directed at the NCAA and NBA for the rules they have in place.
Another user pointed out Duke University's 98 percent student-athlete graduation rate and compared to the University of Missouri's, which is 81 percent.
The debate was far deeper than anything McCaskill wanted to engage in on Twitter in the early hours of a Tuesday. It is one of the most prominent debates in collegiate athletics and may just be an issue people like McCaskill can address (in a more formal manner), as it involves state institutions.