If Cronin and UCLA want bigger home crowds they are going to have to schedule better games with better opponents - even for the exhibition games.
I know it's difficult to get big name basketball programs to travel to other big name basketball schools. It may be even more difficult to get them to come to the west coast. But if bigger crowds is a priority then they must find a way to get people into the seats. I don't think anything should be off the table.
Given the history of LA supporting college teams by attending games or not, even if they can get bigger names to Pauley, there's no guarantee that people will show up. Let's see how many people show up at the Rose Bowl today. That game should be a near sell out and those banners and tarps should be removed. The crowd (or lack thereof) at the Cal Baptist game was an embarrassment as was the crowd at the Wisconsin football game.
I've always believed that non-conference games should be used to make a team better for conference and post season games. Playing tougher teams is a good way to achieve that. If I were coaching at this level I think I would schedule one of two scrimmages with mid major programs and then fill my non-conference schedule with the toughest and best teams I could get.