Skip Bayless vehemently disagrees with Shaquille O'Neal for comparing ‘phony-baloney’ Phil Jackson and Deion Sanders

Shaquille O'Neal is in Skip Bayless' sights after recent comments made by the four-time NBA champion regarding Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders. After stepping into the coaching position at Colorado, Sanders set out to defy the odds after the former NFL star took the helm of the struggling collegiate American football program.

After another big win, which now sees them sitting at 3-0 heading into another massive game, four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal compared Sanders to Phil Jackson. As he explained, Jackson's status as one of the best of all time made players like he and Kobe Bryant want to take their game to the next level in order to keep up.

On a recent episode of Undisputed, Bayless fired back at Shaquille O'Neal for the comments, ripping him for comparing Deion Sanders to Jackson. From the sound of things, Bayless doesn't buy into the notion that Phil Jackson was one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time.

"I was also there in Chicago, 1998, working in the Chicago Tribune, Last Dance season, and I was around Phil and got to know him fairly well and there was a lot of phony baloney to Phil, to me. That always surprised me that Michael bought it and swallowed it."

"But it worked because Michael, if Michael bought in, then everybody else started buying in, but there's a mystique about Phil that is this sort of mysterious, mystical mystique, they called him the Zen Master and I sometimes called him the spin master because he could spin like nobody's business, but people bought it."

Super Bowl XLI - On The Set of ESPN - February 1, 2007

Skip Bayless explains the difference between Phil Jackson and Deion Sanders in response to Shaquille O'Neal

As a coach, Deion Sanders has proven that he can bring a winning culture with him wherever he goes. Heading into this season, the Colorado Buffaloes were massive underdogs in many of their matchups. So far, however, they have continued to defy the odds.

After picking up a big win in their season debut, the team kept the momentum rolling this past weekend when they faced their inter-state rivals, Colorado State. After going down in the first half, the team rallied for a big comeback before playing through double overtime and emerging victorious.

Colorado v TCU

With proven results as Sanders transforms the Buffaloes, Skip Bayless believes that the difference between Phil Jackson and Deion Sanders is authenticity. He continued his response to Shaquille O'Neal on Undisputed, saying:

"So in a way it's almost offensive to me that we're putting Phil in the same sentence with Deion Sanders, because there's no phony baloney to Deion at all, he is as real as it gets, and the kids know he's real and the kids know he played at the supremely highest level."

Whether or not the Deion Sanders and Colorado Buffaloes Cinderella story will continue, only time will tell. As the team continues its season, expect Skip Bayless and NBA stars both past and present like Shaquille O'Neal to continue to chime in.