If you’re searching for reasons to get pumped up about the soaring Atlanta Hawks, here are three: • Assistant Coach Kenny Atkinson, a former University of Richmond star.

• Guard-forward Kent Bazemore, an ex-Old Dominion University standout.

• Forward Mike Scott, a former University of Virginia Wahoo.

With these links to the state and area, the Hawks have been the NBA’s surprise franchise this winter, posting a 42-9 record that featured a 19-game winning streak through Feb. 7.

The Hawks were 17-0 in January and atop the Eastern Conference Southeast Division by 11 games over Washington starting this week.

Atkinson, 47, was a UR point guard from 1986 to 1990 under Coach Dick Tarrant. In 1987-88, he was a ringleader on the Spiders’ squad that upset Indiana and Georgia Tech to reach the NCAA Sweet 16.

He is UR’s ninth all-time scorer with 1,549 points, and third in career assists with 464.

Atkinson played professionally in Italy,France, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands before serving as the New York Knicks’ assistant coach in 2008. He has spent the past three seasons with the Hawks.

Bazemore is a 6-foot-5 southpaw who scored 1,416 points and made 250 steals for ODU from 2008 to 2012. As a junior in 2011, he won the Lefty Driesell Award as the nation’s