In two seasons, Karlie Burris has built UNLV’s post rotation into one of the most dynamic—and dominant—in Division I college basketball.
Junior center Desi-Rae Young established herself as one of the top players in the country. Young was the MVP of the Mountain West Championship, runner-up for MW Player of the Year and a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award in 2023. On metrics alone, Young ranked 11th among all Division I players for win shares and was the Mountain West leader in net total efficiency.
Despite losing starting forward Nneka Obiazor to injury early in the season, sophomore Alyssa Brown was more than ready to step into the role. Brown averaged 9.1 points per game and was fourth in the Mountain West with 7.7 rebounds per game.
Their contributions catapulted UNLV into the Mountain West’s top-scoring offense (22nd in NCAA) with a 14.0-point average margin of victory.
In 2023, the Lady Rebels set a program record with 31 wins, matched the program’s longest winning streak at 22 games and went undefeated at home for the first time since 1979. Only national champion LSU and perennial No. 1-ranked South Carolina had higher winning percentages than UNLV.
In her first season with the team, Burris coached then-sophomores Young and Obiazor to Mountain West Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year honors, respectively. Young’s per-game offensive output improved by 20 percent over her freshman season, her rebounding increased by 29 percent and she led the conference with 12 double-doubles.
The boost helped UNLV to a record season in which it swept the Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament championships for the first time, earning its first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2002. UNLV’s 26-7 overall record was the second best in the program’s history with the most victories in more than three decades.
Burris joined the Lady Rebels’ staff in May of 2021 as assistant coach, bringing nine previous years experience as a Division I assistant coach on the West Coast.
Burris has served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at three different schools since the 2012-13 season, and helped recruit a Big West Player of the Year, a Lisa Leslie Award Watch List player, two Big Sky Freshmen of the Year, along with a mid-major All-American.
Most recently, Burris served as the lead assistant coach, defensive coordinator and recruiter for Utah State during the 2020-21 season. She came to the Aggies program after a three-year stretch at Cal State Fullerton (2017-20), where she recruited Raina Perez, the 2019-20 Big West Player of the Year. She again led the defensive coaching as well as oversaw all facets of the recruiting by the Titans.
Burris' first assistant job was with Northern Arizona, where she served on the staff from 2012-17. In the four total recruiting classes she oversaw, she helped bring in two Big Sky Freshmen of the Year. She came to NAU from Seattle University where she served as a graduate assistant video coordinator with the Redhawks for the 2011-12 season. During her time at Seattle U, she also was an assistant coach at Rex Putnam High in Milwaukie, Oregon.
A four-year player for the University of Portland, Burris was West Coast Conference honorable mention both her junior and senior years. She also claimed WCC All-Academic accolades during her time with the Pilots. She would earn a bachelor's degree in sociology in May of 2009 from Portland, and then received her master's degree in sports administration and leadership from Seattle U in June of 2012.
