The prospect of living and playing basketball in a country at war hit home for Pitt's Donatas Zavackas

Zavackas, a 6-foot-8 senior and a native of Klaipeda, Lithuania, doesn't want to play in the NCAA men's basketball tournament if the United State invades Iraq later this week. "I don't think any kind of tournaments should be played," said Zavackas, who punctuated his comments with "that's my opinion." Pitt is scheduled to play Wagner at 7:10 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the Midwest Region at the FleetCenter in Boston. "I've seen some stuff happen, war is not time to enjoy yourself. Cancel everything. I'd rather be safe, basketball is just a game. I've seen what war can do with my own eyes." In early 1991, Zavackas was 11 years old when Soviet troops killed 13 Lithuanian citizens who surrounded a television tower in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania located about three hours from Klaipeda. "Lithuanians were fighting for their freedom," he said. "They needed the television tower as the only way to get their message out to the world. They didn't have guns. The Soviets had tanks coming down the street." Zavackas remembers watching cartoons on television at the time. "My mother came and switched the channel. She wanted to see what was going on," he said. "I knew something bad was going on."