"It's my favorite show," Mark said, noting reruns air daily on several cable stations.

"Carlton" was known for doing his arm-swimming dance to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" — moves Mark has mastered, and performs for friends and teammates.

"And it has to be Chiquita bananas, the long ones, not Dole," LaBarre said.

Last year, LaBarre and teammates Jake Schkud and Brian Beckwith discussed feats of feasts. Downing a gallon of milk? Metabolically impossible. Scarfing 40 hard-boiled eggs in a few minutes? Nasty.

"Then we came up with the seven bananas in a minute," LaBarre said. "We started it this year. If I can't do that before every (match), we're not going to win."

Since LaBarre broke into the starting lineup last month, the Warriors have won 10 of 11.

Schkud, who serves as proctor, supplies the bananas. "I have to keep doing it until I get seven," LaBarre said. "If I do six, I have to start all over. Jake makes sure I do it."

Although bananas are known to, well, alter digestion, LaBarre has experienced no side effects during matches.

"Afterwards," he said, "as soon as the game stops, I'm like, 'Whoa, dude.' . . . It's like the time I was a freshman and I drank a bottle of boysenberry syrup and I ate a stick of butter at Ken's Pancake House."

"I started when I was in the seventh grade," said Reft, a member of the Church of Christ in Oxnard, Calif.

The experience helped him feel comfortable performing in front of sizeable crowds.

"I'd say there were about 400 a week," he said. "That was our average congregation."

"He looks like the '40-year-old Virgin,' " Beckwith said.

Carney said the waxing occurred during a team party. "That was kind of a bad choice," he said.

Schkud said hot wax was poured onto Carney's chest, and "we just ripped it off. It was painful for him, I think. He bled a little bit. But he was a trooper."

Carney said: "It hurt a lot. It was an aggressive waxing. It won't happen again until I can regrow some skin cells."

Although angles from television shots showed otherwise, "I wasn't kissing the volleyball," Beckwith said. "I don't kiss volleyballs. It was my ritual, like a basketball player doing something before shooting a free throw."

It was two years ago, when Schkud was a freshman at UC Santa Barbara. "A good family friend knew them and took us there," Schkud said. "It was fun."

Schkud described the Santa Barbara property as "a big amusement park, with a lot of rides."

He said there was a section for animals. "I checked out one of the monkeys," he said. "It wasn't 'Bubbles.'"

Schkud said the visitors were allowed to tour part of the mansion. One room "had a bunch of plaques of (Jackson's) greatest hits," Schkud said. "That was cool to see. You always see something like that on ("MTV) Cribs" or whatever."

He also said he and his group met the King of Pop.

"He had a mask on," Schkud said. "It was a little freaky at first, but I got over it. I shook his hand. He seemed normal. He was a nice guy. He signed autographs. I brought a basketball, and he signed it. I have it at home."

"I learned in high school," he said. "I had p.e. class with a guy who taught me how to do it. It's actually pretty simple, but you need a good surface. Ever since then, it's one of my talents. It's a good ice-breaker at parties."

After the Warriors were stripped of the title in 2004, "Herman (Frazier, UH's athletic director) told me to take it, and I'm hanging on to it until he tells me what to do with it," Sheriff said.

He said he does not have any desire to offer it on eBay. "I wouldn't do that," he said.

This year's NCAA final four will be played at Penn State, site of the 2002 championships. "Hopefully, we'll be able to take (the banner) out, change the last digit, and put it up," Sheriff said.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.