Making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016, top-seed Virginia continues its national championship quest on Thursday night when it plays this year's Cinderella team, Oregon. Tipoff for this 2019 NCAA Tournament game is at 9:59 p.m. ET from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. The Cavaliers have begun erasing the bad taste from last year's first-round upset at the hands of UMBC, the first-ever upset by a 16-seed. Now they face a torrid Ducks team that has won 10 straight, the last three by an average of 19 points. Bookmakers list the Cavaliers as 8.5-point favorites in the latest Oregon vs. Virginia odds, with the over-under for total points set at 120.5 after falling as low as 118. Before making any Oregon vs. Virginia picks of your own, see the 2019 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 predictions from SportsLine's Mike Tierney.

A renowned sportswriter whose work appears periodically in the New York Times and L.A. Times, Tierney is a West Coast-based hoops expert who has finger on the Ducks' pulse. Amazingly, he's 8-1 in his last nine picks involving Oregon, and anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Tierney has analyzed Oregon vs. Virginia from every possible angle and released a confident against the spread pick. He's only sharing it at SportsLine. 

Tierney knows Virginia is on a mission after its embarrassing first-round loss to UMBC in last year's NCAA Tournament. Against Oklahoma in the second round of the 2019 NCAA bracket, the Cavaliers surged to a 7-0 lead and were never really threatened in a 63-51 win. They shot 48.2 percent from the field, won the rebounding battle 36-29 and held the Sooners to 36.5 percent shooting. For the season, Virginia is holding opponents to 38.1 percent from the field, fourth-lowest nationally.

The Cavaliers, who boast three players averaging at least 13 points, shoot 40.1 percent from beyond the arc, the fifth-best mark in the country. They have covered four of their last five non-conference games.

But just because the Cavaliers are a legitimate powerhouse doesn't mean they'll cover the Oregon vs. Virginia spread and advance in the 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket.

Oregon (25-12) not only has won 10 in a row, it has also covered each game. During that streak, 6-9 sophomore Kenny Wooten is averaging 2.8 blocks per game. He swatted seven shots in the Ducks' pulsating win over UC Irvine on Sunday, adding 11 points and eight rebounds, and is a big reason why Oregon ranks 12th nationally in points allowed at 62.5 per game. The Ducks allowed exactly 54 points in their first two NCAA Tournament games; they held Wisconsin to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and UC Irvine to 39.2 percent. 

Payton Pritchard (18.5 points per game) and Louis King (16.5) are carrying the scoring load in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, with King nailing 7-of-10 three-pointers. The Ducks are as healthy as they've been all season, they're playing with no pressure or expectations, and won't be intimidated by Virginia given they're from a power conference too.

We can tell you Tierney is leaning under, and he's also identified a striking trend that has him going big on one side of the spread. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.

Who wins Virginia vs. Oregon? And what striking trend makes one side of the spread a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Virginia vs. Oregon spread you should be all over Thursday, all from the renowned expert who's 8-1 on Oregon picks.