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A brief history of Roy Williams' Tough Little Nuts | News & Observer

When it came time in Theo Pinson's senior-night speech to mention his four-year teammate and partner in crime at North Carolina, Pinson had to borrow the right words to describe Joel Berry.

“Like coach says,” Pinson said, “you're a tough little nut.”

Tough little nut. That is an honor Roy Williams has indeed bestowed upon Berry, as he did Marcus Paige before him. Those two became the most famous Tough Little Nuts, a phrase that not only occupies a prominent place in his Roycabulary but may be more meaningful than any other in his collection of quips, verbal ticks and colloquialisms.